Mexico. As previously reported, the audio and video streaming markets register varying degrees of competitive maturity, with much greater progress in the second, in which the market share of the main and incumbent player Netflix has been significantly reduced for a couple of years.
However, the audio market (music, radio and podcasts) via streaming has begun a similar trajectory of competitive intensification, due to the combined effect of the incursion of new players, as well as recent announcements of commercial offers that seek to boost its market footprint.
Audio, Access and Preferences. Audio streaming has established itself as the main way to access music content. In 2021, there was a 4.8% growth in the consumer base accessing digital payment platforms, to reach 13.0 million subscriptions.
This upward trajectory in access to digital music platforms is accompanied by a sophistication and growing diversity of consumer preferences and habits, in the face of an increasingly competitive ecosystem of suppliers.
In this regard, the different platforms have sought to compete with different packaging schemes with other services, attractive prices, audio quality, exclusive content and productions, free access business models, among other differentiators, to attract and attract new and current users.
Competition and Market Share. As of 2021, Spotify continues to hold the top spot as a platform for accessing digital audio content, accounting for more than four-fifths of total subscriptions (85.8%). This is explained by its abundant content offer, the possibility of listening to music on demand with ads, as well as its incursion into the market in its early development stage.
Well below Spotify in terms of subscriptions, it is followed by Google Play Music/YouTube Music with 3.1%, Apple Music with 3.0% and Amazon Prime Music with 1.7% of the total, with the remaining (6.4%) divided among a wide variety of players, among which Deeezer stands out with 1.6% of the total.
However, the recent launch of new audio content plans seeks to trigger a competitive reconfiguration and deconcentration of the market.
This is the case of the Amazon Prime membership that in addition to including free eCommerce shipping, now enables access to video and audio without ads to the entire catalog of its Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music platforms, respectively, for a monthly or annual subscription.
Prospective Audio Via Streaming. This strategy seeks to provide more benefits to users in the current scenario of economic crisis and decline in their purchasing power. At the same time, it would promote the accessibility and segmentation of plans for current and potential subscribers who would find alternatives for access to auditory content according to their preferences, habits and socioeconomic conditions.
Today, these significant consumer savings, from the packaging of services and the incorporation of greater benefits, have the potential to modify the ecosystem of the streaming audio market towards a more competitive structure, with gains in market share for smaller-scale players and preference.
This trajectory opens a chapter of competitive intensification, certainly incipient, in the audio streaming market.
Finally, continued expansion in mobile device access and use and ubiquitous connectivity are and will be a significant driver for online music, radio and podcast consumption.
Analysis by Ernesto Piedras of The Competitive Intelligence Unit, CIU.
