Report: Teens Blasting Music Via Streaming Services

Results from a fall 2014 study by Edison Research suggest teens are a prime audience for the audio streaming industry. The research found that US teen consumers studied spent more time with streaming audio each day than AM/FM radio.

eMarketer reports streaming platforms such as Pandora and Spotify grabbed 64 minutes of teens’ daily time, vs. 53 minutes with broadcast radio and online streams of AM/FM stations. A spokesperson for Edison noted that AM/FM led by a “significant margin” among all other age groups, indicating a future shift in music consumption as younger consumers choose their listening method.

According to Edison, teens spent an average 4 hours, 2 minutes listening to music each day, so their music listening isn’t restricted to those two means. Indeed, research from Piper Jaffray found that MP3s—for example, songs from iTunes and other downloaded music, played on devices such as iPods—grabbed the largest share of time spent listening to music among US teens, at 42%.

However, streaming services came in second, as Pandora combined with “other” streaming radio services such as Spotify and Songza to account for 31%. In comparison, local radio grabbed just 16% and CDs only 6%.