COVID-19 accelerates music streaming growth with global subscriptions reaching 394 million in Q1 2020 according to global research firm, Counterpoint Technology Market Research. This was driven by increased usage of the OTT platforms as people stayed at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Promotional offers like free trials and subscription price cuts in emerging markets added to the growth. Increase in podcast genres on the music streaming platforms was another big factor for people to tune in.
Research Analyst Abhilash Kumar said, “The growth in paid subscriptions (35% Year on Year [YoY]) was once again more than the 20% YoY growth in monthly active users (MAUs). This indicates that people from the free MAU universe are upgrading to become premium subscribers for an improved experience. This also indicates that it is relatively difficult to bring users into the system, but once they come in, it is relatively easy to make them upgrade.”
Spotify continued to lead the charts for Q1 2020 with a market share of 30% in revenue terms and 33% in terms of paid subscriptions. Apple Music followed with 25% revenue share and 21% subscription share. Amazon Music subscriptions grew a strong 104% YoY to capture the third spot. However, in terms of total MAUs, Tencent Music (with the help of QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo) emerged the winner with a strong hold in China, accounting for 657 million MAUs.
In addition to attractive promotional offers, growth has also been fuelled by innovations within the streaming services. For example Spotify launched its new service Spotify Kids, targeting parents with small children and added podcasts and playlists for pets. Apple Music expanded to 52 new countries and offered 6 months of free subscriptions there. It also has been adding new features continuously on its platform such as the iOS 13.4.5 release which enabled users to share their music on Instagram and Facebook stories, thus increasing social media engagements. The reason for Amazon Music’s 104% YoY growth is that its CD Quality and HiRes service, Amazon Music HD, offered 90 days of free lossless music streaming in Q1 2020.
Kumar added, “…listening patterns have changed from listening while commuting to listening at home. Radio, news channels and podcasts related to wellness and meditation have grown. On the devices side, streaming time on smart audio devices and television grew even as listening hours on Android Auto and Car Play declined amid less commute.”
