AppleInsider Staff
Apple's iTunes Radio has carved out 8 percent of the U.S. streaming music market, placing it ahead of popular service Spotify and just behind second-place iHeart Radio, according to newly released data.
Pandora remains far and away the market leader with a 31 percent share, newly released figures illustrated by Statista, and highlighted by Electronista, showed this week. Coming in second place was iHeartRadio with 9 percent of the market, followed closely by Apple's iTunes Radio.
That places Apple in third place, ahead of Spotify's 6 percent share, the data reveals. Google Play All Access took fifth place with 3 percent, followed by Rhapsody, Slacker, and TuneIn Radio, all of which held an equal 2 percent share.
The figures from Statista are based on a 2014 survey of 2,023 Americans aged 12 and older. They are based on data from the Edison Research annual "The Infinite Dial" radio report.
iTunes Radio launched alongside iOS 7 last September, and quickly reached more than 20 million users by October, having streamed more than a billion songs. iTunes Radio is available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV, plus Mac and PC through iTunes.
Though it was initially limited to users in the U.S., Apple has slowly begun to expand iTunes Radio internationally. The Internet-based streaming radio service is free with ad support, while iTunes Match subscribers can listen ad-free with an annual fee.
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
34 Comments
They are different kinds of services, can't really compare them.
Why does headline mention iTunes Match instead of Radio?
I think more people would opt for iTunes Radio while traveling if Apple allowed a low bit rate streaming option. 256Kbps streaming eats too much data for those with 3gb or 5gb plans, while Pandora or TuneIn allows 64kb (and even lower streams on TuneIn) People are having to gauge their usage to fit their data caps. I prefer using iTunes Radio and iTunes Match service while at work, so I can discover music without high data use instead of while traveling.
[quote name="wigby" url="/t/163477/6-months-after-launch-apples-itunes-match-already-more-popular-than-spotify#post_2484962"]Why does headline mention iTunes Match instead of Radio?[/quote] It's a "mistake". ;) I can't imagine the author would purposefully be misleading.
"thanks"