Bridge Ratings Measures 'Favorite-ness'

Bridge Ratings confirms music streaming is growing and will pose a bigger threat to radio than other media usage.

"As of 2014, over 50% of Americans streamed music of any variety each month. Bridge Rating is projecting that by the end of Summer 2015 that number will jump into the 62% range," writes Dave Van Dyke.

From the perspective of a 15 year hindsight view, the trends become clear. Broadcast radio sees weekly (cume) use remain fairly stable, but time spent with radio quite naturally has been chipped away and will continue to do so. By our estimates, broadcast radio has thus far seen a 30% attrition of favorite-ness in that time.”

According to Van Dyke, "27% of the attrition has been attributed to online music streaming, which includes Internet on-demand services like Spotify and YouTube. Internet Radio accounted for 15% attrition. This includes non-interactive services like Pandora and AM/FM simulcasts. While less than 2% of the attrition can be attributed to AM/FM simulcast streams, we felt it was important to include that in the Internet Radio category."

Comparing Favorite-ness':

• Music Streaming grew from 18% in 2007 to 27% in 2015
• Music Downloads, which fell from 24% in 2007 to 17% this year
• Internet Radio (which includes AM/FM streaming) fell from 20%-15%
• Owned Music fell from 15%-13%
• Social Networks rose from 9%-12%
• Mobile Phones (up 5%-9%)
• Satellite Radio (up 3%-5%)
• Music Sharing (down 6%-2%).