LAUNCH, the music destination on Yahoo!, is the Internet's number one music site in almost every category of measurement, according to Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix.
In addition, comScore Media Metrix has determined that LAUNCH now represents almost 50% of all time spent by consumers listening to streamed music on the Internet. With a total of 1.8 billion totalusage minutes in July (comScore Media Metrix, July), LAUNCH saw a nearly 350% year-over-year increase.
Other important highlights from the recently released numbers include:
— Consumers spent nearly eight times as many minutes listening to music on LAUNCH in July than on its nearest competitor.
— LAUNCH has consistently been the #1 music destination according to Nielsen//NetRatings in unique users, excluding those using applications such as downloaded music clients and instant messenger. However, LAUNCH just succeeded in overtaking its closest competitor in unique users, including those consumers using applications — with 15% more unique users.
— LAUNCH saw a 56% year-over-year increase in unique users from July 2003 to July 2004, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
LAUNCH has enjoyed continued growth in popularity among online music fans in 2004 by providing a comprehensive music experience with compelling and often exclusive music content. The site streamed more than 260 million music videos to users in July from the Internet’s largest music video library, bringing its total to more than 1.3 billion videos streamed in seven months, versus 1.3 billion videos in all of 2003. LAUNCH also recently debuted a number of exclusive video premieres from the likes of Usher, Avril Lavigne, Green Day and most recently, Hilary Duff’s worldwide debut of her new single “Fly.”
In addition, with its integration into Yahoo! Messenger in May, LAUNCHcast internet radio has significantly increased the size of Yahoo!’s music listening community, introducing millions of new users to its unique customization and music discovery capabilities. Yahoo! Messenger is the only major instant messaging service to provide consumers with access to pre-programmed or customized radio stations available directly in their instant messaging application.
“We have worked hard to give consumers what they want — access to their favorite music via LAUNCHcast, the largest selection of on-demand music videos, and the ability to continuously discover new music,” said Dave Goldberg, vice president and general manager, music for Yahoo!. “We’ve been rewarded with dramatic growth in our audience as well as a tremendous increase in time spent. Validation of our success through third party metrics underscores our commitment to staying on top and providing the most comprehensive music destination for fans globally.”
Nielsen//NetRatings, July 2004 Unique Users (Excluding Unique Users (Including Applications, in millions) Applications, in millions)LAUNCH 12.5 12.5AOL Music 6.6 10.7MTV Networks 5.9 5.9MusicMatch 5.0 10.1comScore Media Metrix, July 2004 Unique Users (in millions) Total Usage MinutesLAUNCH 25.1 1.8 billionAOL Music 17.5 232 millionMTV Networks 8.6 220 millionMusicMatch 7.4 213 million
