Webcast listening year-over-year grew 11.22% (M-F, 6am-8pm), according to the May Webcast Metrics Report from Triton Digital. Month-to-month listening was relatively flat with digital audio publishers recording 5.34 million average audio sessions (AASs) in May compared to 5.40 in April.
The year-over-year increase can be attributed to streaming pureplays, such as Spotify and Pandora. Pureplays saw a 14.33% increase from 2016-17 (M-F, 6am-8pm). Broadcasters, meanwhile, saw their numbers drop with a 3.4% decrease over the same span.
Modern AC was the only format that showed an increased listenership in May—up 6.55% from April. All other formats showed a decrease, with talk taking the biggest hit, down 11.79%. Last month the format was down 5.8% (Mar-Apr). Of the formats that showed an increase in April—classic rock and sports—their AASs dropped 5.12% and 7.36%, respectively, in May. CHR is down again (1.28%) as is R&B/urban AC (5.19%), AC (5.42%), country (5.46%), urban contemporary (6.73%) and news/talk (7.20%).
Taking honors in May for largest increase is the Seattle-Tacoma market, which was up 2.48% (M-F, 6am-7pm), followed by Washington DC (2.28%), Detroit (2.21%), Chicago (1.98%), Miami (1.21%), DFW (1.01%) and Los Angeles (.23%). New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and Houston all saw AAS decreases.
Looking at the May U.S. ranker, Pandora (2,474,442 AAS) and Spotify (1,996,210 AAS) top the list. The two pureplays are followed by iHeartRadio (385,856 AAS), NPR (64,360 AAS), Cumulus (55,886 AAS) and CBS Radio (49,166 AAS).
The May report shows that weekday listening peaks at 2pm, while weekend listening peaks an hour earlier at 1pm.