Pandora’s listening hours and ad revenues are shifting from desktop to mobile devices, part of the company’s efforts towards “closing the mobile monetization gap,” according to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Kennedy.
More than 75% of Pandora’s total listening hours now take place on mobile devices. The company has said it has 6% of all total radio listening. The Internet audio service generated $59.2 million in the second quarter, up 86% year-over-year, the executive told Wall Street analysts this week.
“We’re enabling interactive buyers to extend their web spending to multiplatform spending,” Kennedy said. Pandora can provide advertisers with “substantial display screen real estate” while the ad copy airs aurally, he explained.
Pandora is being embraced by both digital and traditional ad buyers as the company has beefed up its sales staff, by nearly 80%, in several key local radio markets. The company has 589 employees, up from 427 a year ago.
For the second quarter, total revenue was $101.3 million, with ad revenue at $89.4 million. The Internet audio service lost $5.4 million in the quarter and paid $60.5 million in content acquisition costs, compared to $33.7 for the same period a year ago.
CFO Steve Cakebread said he’s leaving the company by year-end after nearly three years with the company; a search firm has been hired to find his replacement.
Also, the company is looking to branch out of the U.S. and has targeted Australia and New Zealand for its next launch with a timetable not yet announced.
