IoT research firm announces new research on streaming music and audio services

Parks Associates announced today that the majority of paid streaming music services experienced an increase in their number of subscribers in 2016, with Amazon Prime Music leading the market with 15% of U.S. broadband households. 360 View: Digital Media & Connected Consumers notes Amazon Prime Music experienced a 50% increase in subscription during the one-year period. In addition to Prime Music, Amazon also launched Amazon Music Unlimited late last year, an on-demand music streaming service with tens of millions of songs and multiple subscription options.

“Amazon’s bundled service model has been a successful strategy in boosting the company’s status in multiple content verticals,” said Glenn Hower, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. “Nearly one-half of streaming music subscribers, the equivalent of 15% of all broadband households, indicate they have a subscription to Amazon Prime Music. The number of households with access to Amazon’s music services through a Prime subscription is higher, as 28% of broadband households indicate they subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, so the number of streaming music subscribers likely reflects actual usage of the streaming music portion of Amazon’s service.”

Parks Associates reveals that Spotify nearly doubled its subscriber base, going from 4% of U.S. broadband households in 2015 to 7% in 2016. Sirius XM Streaming, Apple Music, and YouTube Music all experienced modest adoption increases during this time, while Pandora and Google Play Music adoption did not change substantially compared to 2015.

“One-third of U.S. broadband households now subscribe to a paid streaming music service, up from 26% in 2015,” Hower said. “Although free ad-supported music services offer convenience and ease-of-listening, consumers have been swayed to pay for services that offer commercial-free listening, on-demand content, and expanded libraries.”

360 View: Digital Media & Connected Consumers analyzes trends in music and video consumption by platform, source, and content expenditure. It segments consumers based on their consumption habits and identifies how these habits have been changing over the last four years and how the relative size of each segment is changing. The research also explores OTT video service subscriptions as well as current online gaming consumption figures. Additional digital media research shows:

• 58% of U.S. broadband households stream music or audio outside the home.
• On average, U.S. broadband households stream 3.6 hours of music or audio per week on computers.
• U.S. broadband households stream on average 2.7 hours of music or audio per week on smartphones.

More information about this 360 View is available at www.parksassociates.com. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific data, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720.987.6614.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com

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