Pandora Up 11% Despite iHeartRadio Launch

Despite increasing competition from iHeartRadio,Slacker and others, time spent listening to Pandora jumped another 11% in September. Early the same month Clear Channel owned iHeartRadio launched with a massive marketing campaign both on hundreds of local stations and nationally with a big Las Vegas concert.  How did iHeartRadio do?

"The broadcaster's September AAS (Average Active Sessions, which is essentially equivalent to AQH — i.e., average simultaneous listeners) grew 10% over August in the Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m daypart," according to analysis by Mike Schmidt in RAIN. "That said, Clear Channel's September AAS is less than 1% higher than its previous peak, which came in December 2010. Plus, the month-to-month increase is actually lower than the 14% growth Clear Channel achieved from July to August 2011."

Slacker continued it slow but steady climb upward and should see a boost in October of November after taking control of the AOL Radio platform.