iHeartRadio is a monster. So much so that people have had the app open 206% more than the next best competitor. Take a look at the below chart to see the most listened to podcast apps among Americans this past quarter. And yes, most of these apps offer more than podcasts, such as live radio. Please note that Apple’s podcast app and Google’s podcast app were not included in this study, as only apps that do not come preinstalled were eligible.
So, how many sessions led to iHeartRadio’s towering victory? 817,843,936. That means the average session length was 15.56 minutes. For context, many podcasts are more than an hour long but not everyone finishes those in one session. Plus many people will have the app open for less than 5 seconds as they decide to do something else. The top apps and games accumulate much more session time. The data for that piece of research is worldwide whereas this is U.S. only.
Glancing at Apptopia Advertising Intelligence, it’s clear iHeartRadio is the biggest spender (mostly on Facebook) for advertising compared to the rest of the apps on the above chart. Outside of the digital realm, you do tend to hear and see iHeartRadio’s name everywhere. They put up billboards, put on concerts, advertise on traditional radio, and give out awards. Looks like the marketing budget has paid off.
Stitcher is the only app to show up in the top overall list but not to appear in either store’s list. Pretty neat trick, eh? If we expanded our rankings, Stitcher shows up as the #6 app for both the App Store and Google Play.
