Programmatic Ad Buying Now Available On Its Platform.
Excerpts below from an Inside Radio story published earlier this month.
For a second consecutive year, Pandora lost listeners in the second quarter. Total listener hours were 5.09 billion compared to 5.22 billion for the same period in 2017 and 5.66 billion in 2016.
Active users continued to slide, dropping to 71.4 million from 76.0 million in the same period last year and 78.1 million in 2016. And total listener hours declined year-over-year to 5.09 billion from 5.22 billion in Q2 2017.
While listening continues to decline, the company reported better-than-expected revenue thanks in large part to a 67% increase in subscriptions… The company added 351,000 paying subscribers for its Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium tiers during the quarter, to total 6 million.
While it maintains a thin lead over Spotify in Average Active Sessions according to Triton Digital listening metrics, Pandora is oceans away from Spotify’s 180 million monthly active users and 83 million paid subscribers.
Partnerships like a recent deal with AT&T in which Pandora Premium is offered as a bundling option with the carrier’s unlimited data plan is expected to deliver customers.
Pandora closed its acquisition of AdsWizz… its audio inventory is now available for programmatic buying, allowing advertisers greater access to its ad-supported users, which account for more than 90% of the music streaming service’s listener base.
Pandora also launched a Premium Family Plan during the quarter that provides access for up to six people for $14.99 a month. A student subscription plan is in the works.
Offering a peek at new products in development, (CEO Roger) Lynch pointed to voice control and podcasts as ways to make Pandora more appealing in the car. “Voice controls will be a significant step towards making Pandora as easy to use as radio and our Podcast Genome will help us address the 28% of non-music listening on radio,” Lynch said.
