Nielsen Archives

Americans prefer paid streaming over free tiers

01/11/2025

According to Edison Research’s latest Share of Ear report, Americans aged 13+ now spend 66 % of their music streaming listening time on paid platforms, with ad-supported services making up the remaining 34%. This marks a major milestone for the streaming industry — most listening now happens on paid subscriptions even as overall audio remains dominated by ad-supported formats such as AM/FM radio and podcasts, according to Nielsen’s The Record Q3 2025. Key findings In 2015, […]

SOURCE: Edison Research Share of Ear - Share of daily time spent with ad-supported audio among US audiences

Americans spend most time listening to ad supported audio

31/10/2025

The latest edition of Nielsen’s The Record (Q3 2025) reveals that Americans spent an average of 3 hours 53 minutes per day listening to audio across all platforms — with ad-supported audio continuing to dominate overall listening. According to Nielsen, AM/FM radio remains the largest single component of audio consumption, while podcasts and ad-supported streaming services are expanding their reach among younger audiences. Key findings from Q3 2025 Ad-supported audio represented approximately 64% of total […]

Media consumption set to increase 60% during COVID-19 crisis

18/03/2020

Media consumption set to increase 60% during COVID-19 crisis as more countries impose quarantine measures aimed at reducing the spread of the virus according to analysis from market analysts, Nielsen. Media consumption in the US is already at historical highs with Americans spending just under 12 hours each day with media platforms. During crisis events, such as snowstorms, hurricanes or a global pandemic, media users ramp up their media consumption to stay informed, kill time, […]

Canadians go-to music sources are radio and podcasts

11/08/2019

Canadians go-to music sources are radio and podcasts with 65% of them discovering new music via traditional radio sources according to a new report from market analysts, Nielsen. Despite the increase in media choices radio remains one of the most popular and wide-reaching ways to listen to music. According to Nielsen’s fifth annual Canada Music 360 report, 58% of consumers in Canada tune to radio to get their music fixes. Despite having been around for […]

US music streaming set to top 1 trillion in 2019

29/06/2019

US music streaming set to top 1 trillion in 2019 according to market analysts, Nielsen in their US Music Mid-Year Report 2019. On-demand streaming continues to super-charge the US music industry with more than 507 billion streams in the first half of 2019 with expectations of exceeding 1 trillion streams for the full year. This was led by singles and albums by Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Halsey Khalid, BTS, LIl Nas X and Bad Bunny […]

Album consumption in Canada increases 21% in 2018

05/02/2019

Album consumption in Canada increases 21% in 2018 with homegrown artists doing well both at home and abroad according to market analysts, Nielsen. The Canadian music industry experienced significant overall growth in 2018, with total album equivalent audio consumption up 21% over 2017, driven by a 47% increase in on-demand audio song streams compared with last year. The album with the highest total consumption is Drake’s Scorpion, with 424,000 on-demand audio consumption units, including over […]

News

Personal music streaming in commercial premises loses music industry $2.65 billion

06/11/2018

Personal music streaming in commercial premises loses music industry $2.65 billion annually according to background music company Soundtrack Your Brand, who commissioned Nielsen Music to conduct the largest-ever international study into background music. The study shows that composers, artists, and musicians may miss out on an estimated $2.65 billion annually because businesses misuse personal music services in commercial settings (with most small businesses unaware they breach licensing regulations). The study estimates that rights holders miss […]