U.S. Mobile Audio Streaming Hits New Milestone

Audio streaming on mobile devices rose to an unprecedented 35 percent from July 2013 through July 2014 reflecting a steady increase in mobile listening, digital audio measurement source Triton Digital revealed in its July monthly “Ranker” report.

According to the Ranker, the month of July saw a 37.2 percent surge in mobile internet audio listening during dayparts (weekdays) from 6AM to 8PM, and a 35.8 percent increase in dayparts between Monday to Sunday, 6AM to Midnight.

On dayparts between 6AM to 8AM, mobile devices accounted for 68 percent of average active sessions, up from 62 percent in June. 37 percent of streaming was done on iOS-powered devices and 31 percent was done on Android devices, the Ranker stated.

“The July Ranker gives strong support to a mobile listening trend that we expect to continue and even accelerate moving forward,” said Rob Favre, CCO and GM of Measurement and Analytics at Triton Digital, said in a statement detailing the release of the report.

“As mobile devices proliferate and expand to include wearables such as the Apple Watch, streaming audio will play an important role in consumers’ experiences on those devices," he added.

The Ranker, which was published by the research company in September, also revealed that listening in general showed modest growth in July, up by 20 percent from the previous year.

The Ranker's findings also revealed that average active sessions (AAS) jumped sharply during the same period with a 20.7 percent increase in listeners in dayparts from Monday to Friday, between the hours of 6AM and 8AM; and with a  22.3 percent increase in dayparts from Monday to Sunday, between 6 in the morning and midnight.

In terms of top markets, Cleveland showed the highest digital audio usage with a 22.2 percent increase in AAS, followed by San Francisco (9.1 percent), Los Angeles (4.8 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth (3.6 percent) and Houston (1.8 percent), the report revealed.

Radio stations playing Urban Contemporary saw a 19.6 percent rise in AAS, followed by Sports (7.2 percent), Top 40 (6.8 percent), News/Talk (2.4 percent), Classic Hits (1.1 percent) and Country (0.8 percent), the report said.

Digital audio streaming is dominated by the likes of music streaming sites like Pandora, Spotify, and Soundcloud. Other players in the segment, meanwhile, are focused on spoken word content like Audioboom Group PLC BOOM.  

Audioboom is a digital audio social media company headquartered in London. It caters mostly to consumers and businesses worldwide that need an avenue for their spoken word content. The company is rapidly expanding in the U.S., U.K. and Australia and is set to be entering the Mumbai market soon.

Interested parties can learn more about Audioboom’s investor relations and services by visiting the company’s website, http://audioboomplc.com/and calling its London headquarters at +44 207 403 6688.

Triton Digital’s monthly Ranker lists the top-performing digital audio stations and networks based on data from Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited Webcast Metrics audience measurement platform.

It utilizes proprietary platform to interpret audience data and translate it in relatable terms for content producers and advertisers. Triton claims that compared with other measurement tools, Triton data has less room for errors as they are sourced from census data rather than consumer surveys.