“Barely six months after it debuted, Apple’s iTunes Radio has already eclipsed Spotify and Google Play All Access (and others) to become the third most popular music streaming service in the US, according to a new report from Statista,” Electronisa reports. “While long-time veteran Internet radio station Pandora continues to maintain a clear lead over all rivals, it has taken 14 years for the latter service to reach its current level of 70 million active listeners (as of last April) and it continues to struggle with profits.”
“According to the Statista chart based on data from Edison’s annual radio report, Pandora has a 31 percent share of the music streaming market. This is based on active listeners (tuning in more than once a month) rather than paid listeners, which represents a far smaller group,” Electronisa reports. “It is difficult to directly compare Pandora to iTunes because of the different business models: iTunes Radio offers unlimited free listening on all devices, but users can avoid ads by signing up for iTunes Match.”
“Pandora’s percentage would suggest that iTunes Radio and iHeart Radio (third and second place, respectively) have around 20-21 million listeners,” Electronisa reports. “While users can hop between services freely (and at least one report has suggested that 92 percent of iTunes Radio listeners also find time for Pandora), that figure would suggest that iTunes Radio is growing at the fastest rate of the top three services, and is likely to overtake iHeartRadio in the next quarter or two — particularly if iTunes Radio expands to more countries (it added Australia last month, and plans to add Canada, the UK and New Zealand in the foreseeable future).”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Not the instant hit for which we’d hoped, but, slowly but surely and with the help of basic math (amassing more countries than competitors), iTunes Radio is getting there.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Following Apple’s iTunes Radio, me-too Samsung introduces new ‘Milk Music’ streaming radio service – March 8, 2014
Apple delivers iTunes Radio to Australia – February 10, 2014
Parts of Apple’s iTunes Radio service flicker on in Australia, UK, and Canada – January 25, 2014
iTunes Radio heats up music streaming battle as service spreads beyond U.S. – December 14, 2013
Apple releases iTunes 11.1 with iTunes Radio – September 18, 2013
iTunes Radio for UK in the ‘foreseeable’ future, doesn’t sound like ‘early 2014’ as stated in September 2013 ?????
You are missing nothing.
Keep your music on an iPod Touch or an iPhone and forget about it.
I am subscribed to iTunes Match which is supposed to eliminate ads- which it does not.
I’m a Match subscriber and don’t hear ads. You should call Apple.
Well unsurprisingly millions of others seem to disagree with you so I think as close to a supreme being as you are (at least in your own mind) I will judge it for myself based on their apparent support. But hey thanks for your concern for us expressing our own objective choice.
Very frustrated with iTunes Radio.
I tell it to never play a song again, then it is played again immediately after that.
I created a custom station. I kept adding new songs to it from the weekly updates over at Alt 18. The more customizing I did to this station, the worse it became. No it won’t play at all.
I created a new station three days ago based on two genres, alternative and classic rock. Over the past three days, not once has a “classic rock” song played.
iTunes radio still sucks like a Dyson.
Just think of it, music you have already purchased, but with ads! Even better, it will eat up the data allowance on your mobile contract.
Isn’t the cloud wonderful?
You’re going to go over your data allowance with any streaming service. Streaming radio is obviously not for you in any shape or form.
Also, stop double posting. We all saw your handing wringing in the second comment on the page.
I have unlimited data, but most do not.
Verizon is squeezing all uncapped data plans out as the price of an upgrade. How long before At&T does the same?
BTW- it is not hand wringing. Apple needs some clarity of vision and someone who can ship web services that work well. Apple has long struggled with web services and iTunes Radio is just the latest train wreck.
But you still haven’t recognized that *any* streaming service—Pandora, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio—present the same data issue. Use wifi.
iTunes Radio will win in the end simply because it is an app preinstalled on the phone and is embedded in the music app. It may not be the choice for avid users who will pay for a subscription service but will certainly pick up a lot of casual users.
Music radio by definition is for casual listeners.
Like I said in another post, iTunes Radio does the job well and the numbers back it up.
It started out great. I liked the music selected for any particular station. Then it kinda lost it’s sanity, played the same songs over again, not producing new tracks, and even wrong tracks for what I was interested in. This opened new opportunities for Spotify, giving me more control, and play lists that were actually managed.
I want iTunes radio to succeed.
I still like pandora better. Don’t want to, but do.
iTunes Radio blows
Disappointment that it’s been delayed for Canada!