One-quarter of Spotify tracks are skipped in first five seconds, according to new research.
The study, carried out via music analysis company The Echo Nest, looked at billions of plays from millions of unique listeners worldwide.
The graphs show that nearly one-quarter of all songs played are skipped in the first five seconds, with the likelihood that a song will be skipped within the first 30 seconds rising to 35.05%.
An average listener skips a song once every four minutes, and there is a 48.6% chance that a song will be skipped before it ends.
While there is very little difference between the male and female skipping rate (male listeners’ rate is 44.75% and female listeners is 45.23%), the mobile skipping rate (51.1%) is greater than the desktop skipping rate (40.1%), meaning that those on their handheld devices interact and divert much more regularly than solitary desktop users.
The Echo Nest’s Paul Lamere also found listeners hit fast-forward before nearly half of Spotify tracks have finished.
“This is my first deep dive into Spotify data,” wrote Lamere. “When we are more engaged with our music, we skip more, and when music is in the background such as when we are working or relaxing, we skip less.
“When we have more free time, such as when we are young, or on the weekends, or home after a day of work, we skip more … [But] on average, we skip nearly every other song that we play.”