Australia’s music streaming service releases first audience data

On the day the Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) iHeart Radio announced its first download figures, Mumbrella reports on moves for streaming services to have their own audience measurement system in place by the end of the year.

Jane Huxley, managing director of Australia’s streaming site Pandora, said securing a measurement system is a key focus for her as the space becomes increasingly crowded and marketers demand measurable returns for their dollars. 

Earlier this year Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), said the inclusion of music streaming sites would not be a priority in the current radio ratings service.

iHeart Radio reported 308,000 downloads of the app so far and 207,000 registered users signing up.

Pandora claims 1.5m registered Australian users and Huxley says it is growing by around 30,000 listeners a week in a member get member model that has seen its audience steadily rise since it launched in December 2012.

With support from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and interest from US audience measurement company Triton, Pandora’s Huxley expects something to be secured by December.

This comes as iHeart launched an Australian music news station in collaboration with music news site Noise11.com and updated its advertising services to include audio ads, which can be synchronised with digital display ads that click through to advertiser’s websites.

A spokeswoman for ARN said the network “would welcome discussion on the ongoing evolution to address the ever increasing ways that audiences consume radio”.