I Know What I Like... On Your iPod

Two surveys out this week shed light on the world of online music. The technology is new – Ipsos says more and more Americans are trying mobile music downloads – but the content is often golden oldie, with Genesis taking the no.1 spot in Hitwise's UK online search chart.

Online audience specialist Hitwise says newer phenomena Il Divo and Keane have been joined near the top of the UK music search chart by George Michael and The Beatles, and left standing by Genesis, whose 'Turn It On Again' comeback tour recently sold out in just 90 minutes. Visits to www.genesis-music.com were up 50 fold in the past eight weeks and searches for Genesis have risen from a base of zero eight weeks ago to become the #1 search term sending visits to Bands and Artists web sites.

Hitwise also monitors traffic routes and says the Genesis site directs 42% of downstream visits to sites in the Ticketing category – most to Ticketmaster UK (www.ticketmaster.co.uk ). Keane have just announced a February tour and are also boosting ticket sales online.

The other three groups all have albums just out – and music retailers are busy in the run-up to Christmas. Visits to the Shopping and Classifieds Music category were up 45% in the past eight weeks and up 3% year-on-year. Play.com, the dominant player in the category, captured 31% of category visits in the week ending 25th November, whilst HMV.co.uk ranked at #2 and captured 13% of category visits.

'HMV's gains so far this year are part of a broader trend of high street retailers gaining online in the run-up to Christmas' according to Heather Hopkins, VP of Research for Hitwise UK. 'Last year, many high street brands were playing catch-up to pure-plays. This year, we are witnessing a resurgence for high street retailers, who have adapted pricing, customer service and marketing to the reality of the way consumers now shop.'


Hitwise UK: Top 10 Shopping & Classifieds Music Websites, Based on Share of UK Internet Visits, Week to 25th November 2006

[table]

Hitwise UK: Top 10 Bands & Artists Websites, Based on
Share of UK Internet Visits, Week to 25th November 2006

[table]

Hitwise is a privately held company headquartered in New York City and online at www.hitwise.com .


Also this week, Ipsos' quarterly digital music tracking program TEMPO says the mobile music category is 'still in its infancy' but points to increasing experimentation with the new option in the US. With continued growth in portable MP3 player ownership and steady sales of PC-based individual song downloads, the market is eyeing take-up of recently launched mobile music services with interest. Ipsos finds that:

• 4% of American mobile phone owners aged 12 and older have downloaded full digital music songs over-the-air in the past 30 days – twice the percentage from 2005
• Males are twice as likely as females to have ever downloaded full songs (6% versus 3%). 11% of teens, 8% of 18 to 24 year olds and 7% of 25 to 34 year olds have done so.
• awareness is high: 71% of American mobile phone owners are aware of mobile/wireless phones that would allow them to download and play entire songs rather than just ringtones, and 14% say their mobile has full-song download and playback capability.
• including ringtones, full songs and ringbacks, the average mobile music downloader spent roughly $7.00 in the past month, with younger users spending more.
  
  Matt Kleinschmit, Vice President for Ipsos Insight and author of the TEMPO study, points to a steep rise in awareness of the new option in recent months, particularly among teens and young adults. 'This is encouraging as these groups have traditionally shied away from fee-based digital music behaviors, and thus mobile acquisition may represent a key opportunity for bringing these music enthusiasts back into the realm of the legitimate digital music marketplace.' Kleinschmit adds that while mobile video services are still in their infancy, this category could 'also be poised for strong growth... The promising common element to both is that they provide vast new opportunities for monetizing impulsive consumption across a wide range of multimedia content via an established wireless carrier billing relationship.'
  
  Ipsos Insight's quarterly shared-cost research study TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Digital Music Behavior combines data from general population statistics collected between June 23 and July 3, 2006, via a nationally representative US sample of 1,143 respondents aged 12 and over, and additional in-depth data on music downloaders collected between August 21 and 30, 2006, via a representative sample of 1,501 US Downloaders aged 12 and over.
  
  The company is online at www.ipsosinsight.com .
  
  

  All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

  • All news

  Register (free) for Daily Research News

  Simple printable version of this article

  Email this article to a friend