Leading Brands in CA's Music & Podcasts Category: Q1 2025 Insights

Introduction

The Music & Podcasts category remains fiercely competitive, with industry giants like Spotify, YouTube Music, and SoundCloud Limited leading the charge. In Q1 2025, these brands showcased intriguing trends in audience engagement across their websites and apps. Sensor Tower’s comprehensive data, including Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics, provides a unique perspective on these cross-platform behaviors.

Spotify

Spotify's digital footprint is represented through its website, spotify.com, and the Spotify: Music and Podcasts app.

• Audience Trends:

  • The monthly deduplicated audience remained stable, consistently above 10M throughout Q1 2025.

  • The website attracted over 2.3M unique visitors monthly, with visits per unique visitor reaching 46 in March 2025.

• App Engagement:

  • Monthly active users on the app remained robust, surpassing 9.8M, with a slight dip in February before rebounding in March 2025.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Monthly ad spend varied significantly, peaking in December 2024 at over $1.2M. Instagram was the dominant channel, providing the highest impressions.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music's presence is notable on music.youtube.com and the YouTube Music app.

• Audience Trends:

  • The website experienced fluctuations, with unique visits ranging from 1.1M to 1.16M. Visits per unique visitor remained high, averaging around 95.

• App Engagement:

  • The app maintained a stable monthly active user base, with users consistently around 4.5M.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Minimal monthly ad spend was observed, with negligible activity in Q1 2025, highlighting a different strategic focus compared to competitors.

SoundCloud Limited

SoundCloud's ecosystem includes soundcloud.com and the SoundCloud: Discover New Songs app.

• Audience Trends:

  • The website's unique visitors fluctuated between 930K and 1M, with visits per unique visitor peaking at 21 in March 2025.

• App Engagement:

  • The app saw growth in monthly active users, surpassing 6.8M in March 2025, showing a strong mobile preference.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Monthly ad spend remained moderate, with Instagram leading the charge in impressions, while YouTube saw an increase in December 2024.

Conclusion

In Q1 2025, Spotify, YouTube Music, and SoundCloud Limited demonstrated varied strategies in engaging their audiences across web and app platforms. Sensor Tower's unparalleled data offerings, including Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics, provide essential insights into these leading brands' digital strategies. As the Music & Podcasts category evolves, these insights will be crucial for understanding audience dynamics and platform preferences. Sensor Tower empowers decision-makers with the data-driven insights needed to navigate this dynamic landscape effectively.