Emerging Music Markets Streaming’s Third Wave

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The 20,000 Foot View: With streaming growth set to slow in mature western markets by 2019, the next wave of fast growth will come from a mixture of mid-tier markets such as Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Germany. Beyond that, the streaming market will need to look towards emerging markets for growth. Emerging markets in Asia and Africa present a diverse variety of opportunities, but current evidence suggests that the outlook for these markets is far from uniform.
Key Findings
- Chinese music subscribers totalled million in 2017, up from million one year earlier, while the sum total of reported free users totalled million
- Tencent dominates music streaming in China, with of subscriptions and a sum total of million free users across QQ Music, Kuwo and Kugou 2018 Chinese free streaming penetration was while tip karaoke on QQ and do karaoke themselves
- Indian music subscribers totalled less than one million in 2017, generating revenue of million, while the sum of reported free users totalled million
- In India Hungama was the leading service with million MAUs, followed by Tencent-backed Gaana on million
- Free streaming penetration in India 2018 was reflecting an early growing market with most of its growth ahead of it
- The recorded music market in sub-Saharan Africa was worth about million in retail terms in 2017 and million in label revenue terms, streaming revenue was million
- Telcos are the key force in the sub-Saharan African digital music market, including MTN, which generates revenues of around million a year, across million customers
- East Africa focused Mdundo has the largest installed base of streaming users in sub-Saharan Africa, with just two million MAUs
- YouTube dominates sub-Saharan African streaming and is helping local artists find international audiences
- The Middle Eastern streaming market generated million in 2017 in label trade terms.
- After years of copyright challenges, the Russian streaming market is finally growing, led by Vkontakte Music with million subscribers
Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Africha, Africori, Apple Music, Baidu Music, Deezer, du, Etisalat, Gaana, Hungama, iRoking, Jio Music, Kugou, Kuwo, Mdundo, Mkito, Mobile Money Kenya, Mobile Money Tanzania, Mobily, MTN, MTN Music+, Mzliki, Netease, Netease Cloud Music, QQ Messenger, QQ Music, Reliance Communications, Samsung, Safaricom, Saavn, Simfy Africa, Skiza, Tencent, Tencent Music, Vkontakte, Vkontakte Music, Vuga, WeChat, Wynk Music, Yala.FM, Yandex, Yandex Music, YouTube, Zvook