Report: Pandora beats Spotify, Apple Music, in US weekly streams

Pandora had the most weekly streaming activity in the United States during the second quarter of 2016. It had 30% share of hours, according to new data from MusicWatch, which provides consumer research for the music industry.

Of this, the bulk (27%) came from its free tier, which has 78 million monthly users. The remaining 3% was from Pandora One, which has 4 million subscribers, and indicates that those who pay $5 for its service use it more than the free riders.

Spotify, which is the biggest streaming service in the US with 100 million users and 40 million subscribers, ranked second, with 18%. Of this, 11% was from its free tier and 7% from those who pay $10 a month.

Surprisingly, Apple Music, which amassed 17 million subscribers within its first 12 months in operation and gets far more media attention, was stumbling at the back. It just had 2%, which is what SoundCloud and Vevo also managed.

The three were beaten by iHeartRadio (5%), Amazon Music (5%) and Google Play Music (3%).

Apple’s low performance is hard to explain, although one source suggested that many of its users sign on for its brand affiliation but seemingly get better value from other services.

“Pandora’s strength in the market represents a major opportunity to migrate listeners to new tiers of services, including on-demand and revised lower-price offerings,” said Russ Crupnick, managing partner of MusicWatch.

“At the same time, Spotify is leading growth in the on-demand segment. Although Spotify Premium has a lead over Apple Music it is important to keep in mind that Spotify had quite a head start, and many Apple users are still in the trial phase.”

The MusicWatch Audiocensus is a monthly tracking study of US internet users aged 13 and older. The share of listening hours is based on the size of the audience for the respective services and a number of time users spent listening to that service in an average week.