Webcast listening in January moved down less than one 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 12%.
At first glance the most notable movement in January was perennial leader Pandora, which dropped 6% compared to the December report. That took Pandora’s Average Active Sessions (AAS) number below 2,000,000 for the first time since August 2015. (The 2-million line is an arbitrary one, of course.)
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.
Spotify, always number two in the Ranker, gained 4%, and iHeartRadio dropped 3% of AAS in January from December. Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio are lodged in the #1, #2, and #3 positions in this monthly report. Spotify’s trendline has been decidedly more upward-moving since that music service entered the Ranker two years ago.
Digging into the January 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 an eye-popping 80% more average active sessions than January 2016. (We are overlooking Beasley’s 175% gain resulting from the acquisition of Greater Media.) Spotify enjoyed a 46% YoY upward movement, while New York Public Radio lifted 37%.
The market with the biggest increase in webcast listening? Detroit (+13%).
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:
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