US: iTunes radio in Top 15 apps, Pandora No 5

Nine months since it launched, Apple’s iTunes Radio has made it to the Top 15 downloaded apps in the US.

The streaming platform now has a 21.6 percent reach (at numbwer 15) while Pandora ranked number 5 with a reach of 47.6 percent, reports MediaPost.

These figures are from the latest smartphone market share report from comScore.

Pandora remains the dominant player in online radio, with 77 million monthly users and roughly 9 percent share of the overall U.S. radio market.

While Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed its free streaming service had attracted 20 million listeners in the first month, MediaPost says the tech giant has been silent on new information since then.

Andrew Lipsman, VP, marketing and insights at comScore, pointed out that since it began tracking iTunes Radio in March, the app had an average of about 30 million unique visitors a month.

Russ Crupnick, Managing Partner of MusicWatch, a music-focused research firm said that while iTunes Radio had made good progress, it hadn’t seen the explosive growth some anticipated because of Apple’s huge base of existing iTunes users.

“I think Pandora is still in pretty good shape in an overall leadership role,” Crupnick told MediaPost, noting that more people are now using multiple streaming music services, making the audience more diffuse.

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