Apple’s QuickTime-based iTunes shows massive growth, to pass RealPlayer soon
Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 09:08 AM EDT"Podcasting is taking off, according to recent data from Nielsen//NetRatings and Apple. Unique users of Apple's iTunes player passed QuickTime in mid-2005, and at current growth rates iTunes should pass RealPlayer by mid-2006. People are tuning in over twice as long with iTunes than with RealPlayer or Windows Media Player," WebSiteOptimization.com reports based on Nielsen//NetRatings research.
"Despite its late entry into the streaming media arena, Apple's iTunes player is climbing the charts faster than its competitors. iTunes has eclipsed QuickTime in unique users, and should pass RealPlayer in mid-2006 at current growth rates. Only Microsoft's Windows Media Player will have more unique users than iTunes. In mid-2006 Microsoft's player will have about 80 million unique users, while iTunes will have just under 30 million," WebSiteOptimization.com reports. "iTunes is used over twice as long as its nearest rival RealPlayer (111 minutes versus 46.4 minutes per person, or 2.4 times as long). Besides iTunes, RealPlayer is the only other player surveyed to show growth in usage over the last three years. QuickTime and Windows Media Player are losing mindshare among users."
Streaming Media Players - Unique Users 2006 (Source: Nielsen//NetRatings)
1. Windows Media Player - 71,112,000
2. RealPlayer - 28,687,000
3. Apple iTunes - 18,568,000
4. Apple QuickTime - 12,817,000
Full article with charts here.
MacDailyNews Take: As iTunes is QuickTime-based, adding the Nielsen//NetRatings for both QuickTime products puts Apple's solution ahead of RealPlayer already, 31,385,000 to 28,687,000. That's a lot of Krispy Kremes! Now, these Nielsen//NetRatings QuickTime numbers are always strange to us. Apple, on June 6, 2005, stated that "nearly a billion copies" of QuickTime have been downloaded all-time. Still, by whatever measure, QuickTime use is obviously rising rapidly and those media outlets that insist on streaming in the limited choice of either Windows Media or Real need to rethink their delivery choices. Why would any company that offers online video provide content playable in the third place player and not the second place player that's growing more rapidly than all others?
We encourage our readers to write to online content providers that offer only Windows Media and/or Real and ask that they include QuickTime. Based on the Nielsen//NetRatings report alone, they should already have done so long ago.
Let's use the Reader Feedback below constructively by identifying online video providers that should be providing the QuickTime choice and providing contact information. We'll start:
The Beeb (BBC): offers only choice of Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. Contact info (online form): http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/bbci_comment.shtml
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Hey wake up BBC in the UK! Real is dead meat... QT is the future