MusicWatch time spent listening data sees Pandora in the lead for 2016

MusicWatch sent RAIN News a pre-release note with results of its 2016 ‘Music Streaming Wars’ study, and found that Pandora was had the largest share of weekly music listening at 28%. YouTube took second place with a 27% share. Both of those figures include the audio companies’ free and paid tiers. Spotify was third with 17%, although Spotify Premium was tracked separately with a 7% share. iHeartRadio had a 6% portion, while Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Google Play each posted 4%.

These 2016 figures capture a snapshot that is already in position to see some changes. Pandora, iHeartRadio, and Amazon have already each announced plans for new subscription options that launched in late 2016 or will arrive in early 2017. Those new paid products could see their shares of listenership grow.

The MusicWatch data found that streaming music services had the largest slice of the weekly time spent listening pie at 28.2%. AM/FM radio was close behind at 24.4%. Digital downloads had a share of 13.5%, while CDs had 8.4%. The Other category – which includes vinyl, podcasts, music on social media, and music on artist sites – took a respectable 13.9%. MusicWatch’s data is based on surveys of the Internet population aged 13 and up.