Webcast listening rose slightly in March (Triton Digital)

triton digital canvas

Webcast listening in March inched upward by three percent compared to the previous month, according to Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics monthly Top 20 Ranker, released today. Year-over-year listening to streams gained 13%.

As always in RAIN News tracking, we use Average Active Sessions (AAS) as the key metric, through the lens of 6:00am – 12:00am listening, Monday through Sunday.

Perennial leader Pandora gained 3% compared to the February report, reaching its highest AAS metric since May, 2016.

Spotify, always number two in the Ranker, also gained 3% month-over-month, and iHeartRadio stayed flat. Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio are locked in the #1, #2, and #3 positions in this monthly report. Spotify’s trendline has been decidedly the most upward-moving since that music service entered the Ranker in January, 2015.

Digging into the March year-over-year for individual components of Triton’s Ranker, we see AccuRadio as the clear leader in percentage terms, as it has been in recent months, with a dramatic 81% more average active sessions than March 2016. (We are overlooking Beasley’s 170% gain resulting from the acquisition of Greater Media; that combined entity began reporting in November of last year.) Spotify enjoyed a 53% YoY upward movement, while NPR lifted 30%.

Triton Digital notes that weekday listening peaked at 2:00pm — as other studies have shown, webcast listening tends to complement traditional radio dayparts and drive times.

Below is the historical chart of the Ranker leaders dating back to September, 2009, showing the trajectory Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio, with leaders of terrestrial webcast listening below. Note that Spotify’s stream traffic was at 69% of Pandora’s, compared to 67% in November, as Spotify continues is vigorous upward trajectory.



Here is the graphic year-over-year comparison of the entire Top 20 group:



Brad Hill