Leading Brands in the US Music & Podcasts Category: Q3 2023 Insights

The Music & Podcasts category in the US remains fiercely competitive, led by industry giants Spotify, Pandora Media, and YouTube Music. These brands have consistently attracted significant monthly deduplicated audiences across their platforms, underscoring their market dominance. This article examines the data trends from Q2 2023 to Q3 2023, focusing on their performance across websites and apps.

Spotify

Spotify is renowned for its expansive digital platform, accessible via spotify.com and the Spotify: Music and Podcasts app.

• Audience Trends: Spotify maintained a stable monthly deduplicated audience above 105M throughout Q3 2023. The website consistently drew over 24M unique visitors monthly, while the app sustained a robust monthly active user base exceeding 92M.

• App Engagement: Despite slight fluctuations, the app's monthly active users remained above 92M, reflecting consistent engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: In September, Spotify's monthly advertising expenditure peaked at nearly $9.4M, garnering over 1.3B impressions. Instagram and TikTok were pivotal channels, with Instagram impressions surpassing 840M.

Pandora Media

Pandora Media offers a comprehensive ecosystem through pandora.com and the Pandora: Music & Podcasts app.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience saw a slight decline, concluding Q3 2023 with approximately 45M. The website's unique visits decreased to about 7.8M in September.

• App Engagement: App engagement trended downward, with monthly active users dropping to around 25M by September.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Pandora's monthly ad spend rose to over $1.1M in September, with impressions reaching 150M. Snapchat and TikTok were key channels, with TikTok impressions exceeding 61M.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music is available via music.youtube.com and the YouTube Music app.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience remained steady at around 43M. Unique website visits increased, surpassing 8M by September.

• App Engagement: The app's monthly active users grew consistently, reaching approximately 48M by the end of Q3, indicating strong user retention.

• Ad Spend & Channels: YouTube Music's advertising efforts were limited, with modest spends on X and Instagram, resulting in minimal impressions.

Conclusion

Sensor Tower's data underscores the leadership of Spotify, Pandora Media, and YouTube Music in the US Music & Podcasts category, each brand demonstrating unique strengths across web and app platforms. Sensor Tower's comprehensive data offerings—including Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics—provide an unmatched view into cross-platform user behavior, essential for understanding market dynamics.

For more in-depth insights, discover Sensor Tower’s capabilities in delivering cross-referenced data across web, app, and advertising metrics, empowering decision-makers with strategic advantages. Explore Sensor Tower.