Online content streaming is like a roller-coaster ride. The company holding the top spot for years can lose its position to a relatively new brand in a few months. Just like what happened to Apple's own music streaming service, according to the latest research.
The research claims that Apple has been dethroned from its global leadership position by another popular streaming service Spotify. Comprehensive industry analysis firm Counterpoint Research has come out with a report on Global Streaming Paid Subscription by brand share in 2019. The research report has found that Spotify leads the online paid music streaming service globally with a market share of 35%. Apple Music, in comparison, has a 19% share globally with a revenue share of 24%, which is just 4% higher than the third spot holder Amazon Music. The fourth and fifth most popular music streaming service are China-based Tencent Music and YouTube Music.
"Despite global players strongly pushing their music streaming platforms, regional players stand strong in their respective regions, primarily because of regional exposure and high focus on local content. Gaana continues to be the no.1 player in the Indian market, Yandex Music is leading in Russia. Similarly, Anghami leads the Arab world. Tencent Music Group leads the China market with the help of its apps QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo," the report says.
Explaining the current industry trend in view of the coronavirus pandemic, Kumar, a co-researcher has claimed that the OTT service industry is experiencing an uptick due to the massive number of users stuck at home. "During this outbreak, audio OTT consumption has switched from music streaming to the radio. People in highly affected areas are worried about the outbreak. They are therefore continuously tuned to news on TV/radio for updates. The traction of news channels and podcasts saw an upswing while that for music streaming dropped," he said.
The report explains that all music streaming service companies earn significant revenues via paid subscriptions. The rest of their revenues come from various advertisement and branding campaigns. According to the report, many users nowadays prefer paid streaming services to the free ones for enjoying a smooth content playing experience.
The report says that online music streaming subscriptions around the world spiked by 32% in 2019, for a total subscriber base of 358 million. Counterpoint predicts the online music streaming world would experience an uptick of 25% by the end of 2020 with a user base of more than 450 million subscribers.
