On today's episode, we discuss Spotify's Q3 earnings, the company's growing ad business, and the viability of video podcasts. We then talk about Amazon building a new music-centric live audio app and who is winning the gaming platform war. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.

Spotify has the most users among digital audio platforms, followed by Pandora, Amazon Music, and Apple Music. Amazon will surpass Pandora in listeners next year.

Twitch’s deal with the National Music Publishers’ Association must be the first of many: The platform will need to ink deals that actually let streamers use copyrighted music in order to fend off competitors and support its growing music community.

At the heart of Amazon's flywheel is Amazon Prime—a subscription service that includes a wide variety of perks such as discounts on select items, expedited shipping, and online videos, games, and music, to name a few.

AT&T and Verizon hope crowds returning to stadiums and music venues will provide attractive 5G use cases. But most consumers remain unaware of 5G—and new virus variants threaten to upend telecoms’ plans.

Learn how the leading music store plans to foster community and support across its channels to offer more than just instruments and meet market demands. See Industry Voices: Holiday Preparedness with Guitar Center’s Jeannine D’Addario, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, and discover her approach to acquiring new customer cohorts.

Less than 80% of respondents polled in South Africa in H1 2021 had streamed music or other audio content in the month prior—an incremental decline since H1 2020. For the first time, though, music streaming alone claimed more than 2 hours per day on average. Traditional media experienced mixed fortunes in Q1 2021.

YouTube Premium isn’t exclusively used for audio listening, but we included it in this forecast because most users who pay for YouTube use it to listen to music or podcasts at least once per month. Our YouTube Premium metric combines YouTube Premium and YouTube Music.

Two-thirds (66.7%) of internet users surveyed had accessed music, audiobooks, or other audio content via digital platforms in the prior month. But some of this shrinkage may be due to another adjustment in data analysis; unlike past years, GWI did not include Google Play Music in the list of digital music services that respondents were asked about.

(This is partially attributable to GWI removing Google Play Music from the list of services in its digital audio category, because the service was discontinued.) The youngest cohort recorded a significant decline but still posted above-average engagement with music streaming, audiobooks, and other digital audio content at 68.3%.

Russia’s digital audio audience is also arguably underdeveloped, as just 42.7% of internet users listened to music, podcasts, audiobooks, or other digital content in the prior month. And time spent with music streaming specifically was unchanged YoY, at 48 minutes per day on average.

This was partially because of the removal of Google Play Music from the list of streaming services respondents were asked about. Yet time spent each day with music streaming remained high at 2:12. More internet users watched digital video—both free and paid-for—than live TV in H1 2021. Penetration of live TV was virtually unchanged YoY at 88.3%.

More respondents now listen to online music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other digital audio options than to broadcast radio, though by a small margin. Almost three-quarters (74.9%) of internet users listened to digital audio content in the month before polling, with younger cohorts more engaged than their elders.