Number of Music Streams Continues to Rise in H1, Though Growth is Slowing

July 10, 2017

This article is included in these additional categories:

Digital | Media & Entertainment

The number of on-demand music streams grew by 36.4% year-over-year during the first half of 2017, according to Nielsen’s latest look at the industry [download page]. That was largely powered by a 62% jump in audio streams, as video streaming growth has ground to a halt, with a modest 5% increase.

Overall, there were almost 285 billion on-demand music streams during the first half of the year. The 36% growth is down from 59% in H1 2016 and 92% the year prior.

While the growth in on-demand audio streams is also slowing, it hasn’t fallen at the same rate as video streams.

As a result, the composition of streams has changed. Whereas just 2 years ago, videos accounted for 57% of music streams, they’re now down to just 35% share.

Total Consumption Up

Total music consumption rose by 8.1% year-over-year, per Nielsen, as streaming growth was enough to overcome continued declines in album sales.

For the first half, digital album sales dropped by almost 20%, while physical album sales fell by 17%.

Rock Powers Album Sales; R&B/Hip-Hop Fuels Streaming

In its analysis of leading genres, Nielsen reveals that:

  • Rock accounted for a leading 42.7% of physical album sales and 36.7% of digital album sales; while
  • R&B/Hip-Hop represented a leading 29.1% share of on-demand streams, leading for both audio (30.3% share) and video (26.9%) streams.

Notably, Latin music comprised an outsized 15.2% of video on-demand streams. That compares with just 3.9% of audio on-demand streams and 2.6% of digital song sales.

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” narrowly enjoyed the most on-demand audio and video streams, and it was also the song with the most digital sales.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This