Search for ‘Pandora’

May 1, 2024:

SiriusXM released its Q1/24 financial earnings. The numbers are down for satellite radio and for Pandora; but Chris Peterson looks at the numbers from a podcast point of view, and discovers a bright lining: podcast revenue was up 22% year-on-year, and programmatic podcast revenue has almost doubled.

November 1, 2023:

SiriusXM released its Q3 financial numbers. Podcasting saw a revenue growth of 28% in the quarter. The number of users at Pandora continues to shrink, though.

August 2, 2023:

SiriusXM released its Q2/23 financials. Podcast ad revenue was higher, though not split out in the results; programming costs were higher too. Pandora fared less well, selling fewer ads, and reaching 3m fewer people per month. The word "Stitcher" doesn't appear once in the results; the podcast app closes at the end of this month.

June 28, 2023:

Check your podcast website for Stitcher links, icons and buttons and remove them. ("Most Stitcher website pages will be redirected to our sister app, Pandora", the company says, though that isn't available outside the US - nor is the SiriusXM app, which is due a refresh in the next few months).

June 2, 2023:

Speaking in a conference, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said that while the ad market is "choppy", brands are still keen to enter podcasting. The company is helping brands that previouly just used Pandora to access audiences across SiriusXM (satellite radio) and podcasting.

February 3, 2023:

SiriusXM released its financial results for 2022. Off-platform ad revenue was up 34% to $475mn for the year, "with podcasting driving most of this growth". Overall results for the company were mixed; Pandora saw 9% fewer monthly active users.

January 16, 2023:

Measurement and research company Nielsen is to restructure and will reduce headcount by "hundreds". Meanwhile, AI company SoundHound has laid off half its remaining employees. Its technology is used by companies like Audacy, Pandora and Netflix.

January 13, 2023:

46% of podcast listeners say they prefer listening to podcasts with video, according to a Morning Consult survey. Among the reasons why: "to see facial expressions and reactions from the hosts and guests", and "to better focus on the podcast". The same survey unsurprisingly puts YouTube as the most preferred podcast platform among podcast listeners; Spotify, Apple Podcasts and then Pandora.

January 12, 2023:

Exclusive: Paul Riismandel has joined Signal Hill Insights as the company's Chief Insights Officer. One of the first researchers in podcasting advertising, Riismandel had worked with Midroll Media (acquired by SiriusXM/Pandora) since 2014, working on hundreds of ad effectiveness studies. He's written a blog post for his new employer, highlighting the benefit of third-party research.

November 29, 2022:

Taylor Kirch has been announced as Director of Product Management at Libsyn. She joins from Pandora and SiriusXM.

October 24, 2022:

Sony Music has been accused of copying the name of a podcast to use for a new show with Emily Ratajkowski. High Low bears a strong similarity, says an IP lawyer, to The High Low, an Acast podcast which ran until 2020.

October 13, 2022:

Can you help us grow? So far in October, we've welcomed 293 new subscribers from companies like Spotify, NPR, Pandora, Nova Entertainment, the Washington Post, TED, the BBC and Veritone. At the time of writing, we're on 24,963 subscribers. We'd quite like to be 25,000 by the end of this week, because that's a nicer number. Can you help by mentioning us on your favourite social networking platform, or telling your colleagues? We'll be your friend for life.%%promo-end%%

July 22, 2022:

Comedian Lewis Black has filed a suit against SXM Media's Pandora for copyright infringement, claiming that Pandora has failed to pay royalties for using recordings of his work, and that it decided to "infringe now … and deal with the consequences later". Media lawyer David Oxenford explains how royalties for comedy work, and says that historically, no such royalty has been claimed or collected. Yet.

July 21, 2022:

Pandora has added a charts website. It's music only, though: perhaps tellingly, podcasts are absent.

May 6, 2022:

Spotify is to close Spotify Stations, a lean-back music radio experience. The Pandora-like app launched in the US in 2019, but first launched in 2018, only in Australia, only on Android. Imagine!

February 3, 2022:

SiriusXM released its Q4/21 financial results. The "Pandora segment", which includes the company's podcasting, saw ad revenue increasing by 30% year-on-year.

December 16, 2021:

In a test case with repercussions for the entire industry, SiriusXM is being sued for failing to provide podcast transcripts for deaf users by the National Association for the Deaf and the Disability Rights Advocates. We've a focused look at transcripts below.

November 30, 2021:

The latest Share of Ear study from Edison Research suggests that more than a quarter of all Americans aged 18-34 are listening to podcasts every day. Podcasting's share of audio time has also dramatically grown. The results are quoted by Cumulus Media's Westwood One.

October 4, 2021:

The Guardian's Today in Focus goes inside the Pandora papers, one of the biggest leaks of financial data in history, showing how 35 current and former world leaders, and over 300 public officials, have used offshore companies to avoid paying tax.

September 28, 2021:

In Amsterdam, RecSys 21 is taking place - a conference on recommendation systems. As part of that, PodRecs was a workshop on Sunday focusing on podcast recommendations. Present were a number of people from Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, Apple and the BBC, among others.

September 15, 2021:

Simplecast founder and CEO Brad Smith has been promoted: he's been named Head of Podcast Products for SiriusXM. Simplecast was acquired by SiriusXM last year; SiriusXM also owns Pandora, Stitcher and Adswizz. Smith will be responsible for podcast strategy across platforms for creators and listeners. SiriusXM's CEO, Jennifer Witz, said on Monday that the company plans a broader set of podcasts available to Pandora listeners, and will continue to publish across multiple platforms, though also suggested some opportunities for exclusivity.

September 14, 2021:

Brittany Hall, formerly of Sony Music, Pandora and Megaphone, is the new Head of Sales at podcast analytics and attribution company Chartable. The company has also recently hired Lhanzi Giambrone and Rae Knopf as Account Managers.

May 11, 2021:

Stitcher's Midroll adsales has merged with Pandora and SiriusXM's sales teams. The new group is called SXM Media, and claims it has a reach of 150m listeners, which it calls "the largest digital audio advertising platform in North America".

April 29, 2021:

Q1/21 revenue is 5% up at SiriusXM, which owns AdsWizz, Simplecast, Stitcher and 99% Invisible. Revenue was boosted by Stitcher and AdsWizz revenue. Pandora has lost 8% of its monthly users over the past year, though.

April 9, 2021:

Westwood One publishes data from Edison Research's Share of Ear. Podcasts are bigger than Pandora or Spotify in terms of share, the data says - with podcasting accounting for 25% of all ad-supported audio listening for 18-34s.

February 10, 2021:

Research company Kantar, which measures and analyses podcast ad effectiveness for Pandora and Spotify, has announced partnerships with Acast, Midroll and Megaphone.

February 3, 2021:

SiriusXM has published their annual report. Their Pandora business (which includes AdsWizz, Stitcher and Simplecast) saw a 1% drop in ad revenue in 2020, and a drop of 2% for subscriber revenue.

January 20, 2021:

SoundCloud has signed an ad sales agreement with AdsWizz for 14 European markets. (SiriusXM owns AdsWizz and Pandora, which sells SoundCloud ads in the US; SiriusXM also owns a minority stake in SoundCloud itself.)

January 11, 2021:

SiriusXM is expected to say that their music and podcast streaming service Pandora is worth $1bn less, because of the impact of increasing music royalty costs: the company paid $3.5bn for it in February 2019. Pandora has also seen a decline in total users and ad revenue, while competitors like Spotify have grown considerably.

December 21, 2020:

James Butcher is the new Head of Digital Audio at NZME, which runs the iHeartRadio app in New Zealand as well as a number of newspapers and radio stations. James Butcher has worked at Pandora, Nine and Microsoft.

November 20, 2020:

SiriusXM is the New Destination for Original, Exclusive, and Popular Podcasts claims a press release, promoting new podcasts with Marvel Entertainment. (Marvel had a relationship with Stitcher, which we covered in 2018; then they signed with Pandora and SiriusXM in 2019). The company has also announced further exclusives.

October 20, 2020:

Stitcher is now officially owned by SiriusXM, after the purchase completed yesterday. As part of that, Stitcher's podcasts are now on Pandora.

September 16, 2020:

SiriusXM announces a new CEO and CFO. James E Meyer will retire at the end of this year to be replaced by Jennifer C Witz, who is currently the President of Sales, Marketing and Operations. Sean S Sullivan is appointed the new CFO; David J Frear is "pursuing other opportunities, effective immediately". The company owns Pandora, Simplecast and Stitcher.

August 4, 2020:

"Alexa, play the Podnews podcasting news podcast on Pandora." Pandora users in the US can now use Alexa smart speakers to listen to podcasts.

July 31, 2020:

SiriusXM's financial report for Q2 2020 has been released. The company owns Stitcher, Simplecast, Pandora and AdsWizz. The acquisition price for Simplecast, unreported at the time, was $28m.

July 27, 2020:

Thank you to more than 600 new subscribers so far in July, helping us reach 14,500 subscribers just before we published on Friday. Welcome to new faces from Veritone, Lawson Media, Pocket Casts, Oxford Road, Seeking Alpha, Spotify, Podimo, Nielsen, Tagesschau, the BBC, Wondery and Pandora. (Tell a friend!)

July 7, 2020:

Sirius XM is in advanced talks to buy Stitcher. SiriusXM owns Pandora, a US-only music service and podcast app), AdsWizz, a programmatic audio ads technology company, and Simplecast, a podcast host and analytics service, along with the US satellite radio service. Stitcher encompasses Midroll, a podcast advertising company selling ads for 350 shows, podcast production networks Stitcher Podcasts and Earwolf which make 50 shows, and a podcast app.

July 6, 2020:

Pandora's Android app now supports offline podcasts: however, you need to be a paid Pandora user to gain access to this feature.

June 19, 2020:

Pandora has announced new podcast analytics for creators. It measures Pandora plays: your podcast's audience demographics and location, as well as "thumbs" (whether shows have been given a thumbs-up or thumbs-down). You can sign up here.

June 18, 2020:

SiriusXM has acquired podcast host Simplecast. Simplecast says nothing changes for their current customers. No terms were given.

June 9, 2020:

FOX News has added their podcasts to SiriusXM's Pandora, they have announced. SiriusXM is also broadcasting the FOX News Rundown on one of its satellite radio channels.

May 7, 2020:

Audio saleshouse DAX has hired Les Hollander (Spotify, Pandora, CBS Radio) as Chief Growth Officer for the US and Canada.

May 5, 2020:

A favour: we're on 13,200 subscribers today - thanks to new subscriptions from places like Audiodroom, Podshape, Slate, Dow Jones, The Athletic, Condé Nast, Carver PR and Pandora. But we hate the number 13. We'd be really grateful if you'd help us grow by telling colleagues and contacts about Podnews. (Use the link at the bottom of your newsletter for the chance of some nice things from us in return).

April 29, 2020:

SiriusXM, the owner of Pandora, has admitted in an earnings call that Pandora has "definitely seen a downturn in listening" but that it "has come back recently". "You can track the change and listening trend directly to commute [times]", said CFO David Frear. The company didn't mention Pandora's podcasting aspirations at all; Pandora itself has lost 8% of its monthly active users over the past year. Meanwhile, the company's star Howard Stern is open to ideas about what happens at the end of the year once his contract expires.

April 22, 2020:

SiriusXM, which owns Pandora, have released a "2019 at a glance" statement. Monthly active users for Pandora have decreased. "There is more work to do to realize Pandora’s potential," says CEO Jim Meyer.

March 13, 2020:

Spotify is now apparently bigger than Pandora in the US for music streaming. This has knock-on effects for podcast consumption on both platforms.

February 20, 2020:

CNN has announced a new dedicated CNN Audio division. Hires include Lisa Namerow (ex Pandora); Daniel Kantor; Megan Marcus (CBS) and Ashley Lusk (WNYC).

February 12, 2020:

SiriusXM, the owner of Pandora, has bought a minority stake in Soundcloud for $75m. Soundcloud is used by some podcasters as a podcast host: Pandora already sells advertising on SoundCloud in the US.

February 5, 2020:

SiriusXM, which also owns Pandora and AdsWizz, has filed its annual report for 2019. Pandora has 6.2m paid subscribers and 63.5m monthly active users. Pandora brought in $1.6bn revenue ($1.1bn from advertising) although the company admit Pandora's number of monthly active users "has declined consistently for several years".

December 20, 2019:

Pandora and AdsWizz has been awarded the TAG “Certified Against Fraud” Seal by the Trustworthy Accountability Group. The company says "it reassures buyers that Pandora is following anti-fraud best practices to combat fraudulent, invalid traffic and promote greater transparency in the advertising supply chain".

December 4, 2019:

In a memo obtained by Podnews, the Sony Music podcasting team has been announced. Emily Rasekh (Entercom, CBS Radio) is Senior Vice President of Business Development and Operations, Podcasting; reporting to her are Brittany Hall (Pandora, Megaphone), Vice President of Sales, Podcasting; Ryan Zack (Megaphone, Acast), Vice President of Revenue Operations, Podcasting; and Christy Mirabal (Stitcher, Panoply), Vice President of Marketing, Podcasting. Emily reports up to Dennis Kooker, President, Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales and Tom Mackay, President, Sony Music Film and TV A&R, who add: "Together this leadership team strongly positions us to super-serve the podcast community, help them reach larger audiences on more platforms and further grow our podcasting business opportunities around the world. With a rapidly expanding number of creative partnerships and with the strength of our best-in-class capabilities, we are confident they will keep enhancing Sony Music’s compelling value proposition in the podcasting industry. "

December 3, 2019:

RadioPublic has ended their paid listens program. Launched in Feb 2018, the product offered $20 CPM for listens on the RadioPublic app. By Feb 2019 the company announced it had paid out "thousands of dollars" to podcasters. The company plans to focus on podcaster tools.

November 13, 2019:

Podcasts on Pandora are now available in their website and desktop app. Pandora now boasts "thousands of shows", using their Podcast Genome Project announced last year. You can listen to Podnews on Pandora if you're in the US; if not, here's what it looks like

November 1, 2019:

"Most podcast advertising is very rudimentary and not personalized," said SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer on an earnings call. "Frankly, this area is ripe to be disrupted and improved." The company owns Pandora, which has seen a 5% increase in subscriber revenue.

October 23, 2019:

SiriusXM and Pandora have signed a multi-year agreement with Marvel to produce podcasts featuring characters like Wolverine, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Star-Lord. Marvel podcasts have hitherto been produced by Stitcher Premium.

October 22, 2019:

In the US, the IAB release their half year 2019 internet advertising revenue report. Digital Audio, a category which includes podcasting as well as online radio and music services like Pandora, increased 30.1% year-on-year to $1.2bn. The IAB add: "Digital Audio advertising's share of the total internet advertising revenue pie remains insignificant at 2.1%".

September 19, 2019:

Maggie McGuire, the CEO of Pinna, an ad-free children's audio network, talks to Podcast Movement. They advertise themselves, though: "We’re running advertising across audio networks including Spotify, Pandora, and NPR, and across podcast networks like Megaphone and Midroll."

September 13, 2019:

Pandora has released a desktop app for users of Windows. It doesn't let you stream podcasts though.

September 4, 2019:

Pandora now lets you share podcasts and music to Instagram Stories, report TechCrunch. (The links, like any Pandora content, will only work in the US).

August 20, 2019:

The latest episode of The New Media Show, recorded at Podcast Movement itself, included Lindsay Bowen from Pandora let slip that the company will share advertising revenue with podcasters; and an unusual pronounciation of Cochrane. (Blubrry)

August 15, 2019:

It's now easier to be listed in Pandora - the company has launched Pandora for Podcasters, a tool that the company calls a new self-service hub, where anyone can submit their podcast for listing. The Pandora Blog has more details. (Of note: European podcasters aren't allowed to submit podcasts).

August 7, 2019:

Podcast Movement's main stage will be streamed live all day Wednesday and Thursday. The last event of Thursday is a live taping of the New Media Show, with Todd Cochrane (Blubrry), Rob Greenlee and Rob Walch (Libsyn), Lindsey Bowen (Pandora) and Sarah van Mosel (Stitcher).

July 31, 2019:

Pandora reckon that discoverability continues to be an issue for podcasting. Speaking in an investor call, the owner of Pandora, SiriusXM's CEO Jim Meyer, says that podcasting is "like a flea market," and that content "is up there, but nobody can find it easily". "Right now, it seems to be a race as who can put the most stuff up," he also said, "which personally, I don't believe is what is going to win." Pandora currently lists 3,000 podcasts (including Podnews).

June 26, 2019:

Aimee Lapic and Lizzie Widhelm, the CMO and SVP of advertising innovation at Pandora, are interviewed on video for Variety. "You should never put a radio ad onto Pandora," they say.

June 7, 2019:

Triton Digital have released February's Webcast Metrics, which measures streaming media across the world. Top three lists - US: Pandora, iHeart, NPR; LATAM: Prisa Radio, Grupo Axir, Grupo Radio Centro; EMEA: Talpa Radio, Prisa Radio, Karnaval. (No UK streamers seem to be measured).

May 21, 2019:

Pandora has a new, native Mac app, but it comes... without podcasts. (We're on Pandora).

May 14, 2019:

AdsWizz launches AudioGO, a product that lets small buyers purchase audio advertising "on premium audio services like Pandora and other premium publishers". The minimum for the product is just US$250, opening advertising in these services up to a wider set of potential clients.

May 3, 2019:

Spotify is testing interactive audio ads - you shout "play now" if you want to listen to a playlist from a deodorant. It isn't clear what technology they're using; Pandora has signed to test with Instreamatic·ai.

April 29, 2019:

Audioboom are apparently seeking a further £5m (US$6.5m) of funding. They raised £1.5m ($2m) at the end of February.

April 24, 2019:

If you're in the US (and on mobile), Podnews is now on Pandora. We've added this link - and the link to add yours - in our list of podcast directories.

April 17, 2019:

SiriusXM is now packaging talk shows as podcasts, exclusive to Pandora (who they own).

April 4, 2019:

Spotify is continuing to grow: it's now the #1 podcast player in India, Spain and Indonesia, report Voxnest. Unsurprisingly, says YouGov, Spotify users are far keener on podcasts than users of Pandora.

April 3, 2019:

Pandora is working with ad-tech platform instreamatic·ai to test interactive voice audio ads. "Send me a free sample" might work - as also would "Skip ad", which seems enlightened.

March 26, 2019:

Pinstripes and Bright Lights launches today: hosted by veteran broadcaster and voice of the New York Yankees, John Sterling. In each episode John reads a heartfelt letter from a fan and then shares sports stories he's collected over the course of his career. Of note: the website is one of those RadioPublic PodSites websites, which we noted in Feb.

March 13, 2019:

Pandora's executive creative director Lauren Nagel says that every brand needs to consider sound, in a speech at SXSW.

March 8, 2019:

SiriusXM, the US satellite radio operator and new owner of Pandora, plans original podcasts and shows for Pandora's podcast platform. More than twenty SiriusXM shows will also be reformatted into podcasts.

February 27, 2019:

Pandora is launching Pandora Stories, that combines music and the spoken word in a "new format", according to TechCrunch: playing music and talking inbetween - eerily reminiscent of music radio.

February 14, 2019:

Pandora's plans for podcasting are explained in this conference session video from AdWeek's BrandWeek with Alex White, who's VP of Content and Programming for Pandora. He says Pandora earns three times more ad revenue than the entire podcasting industry.

January 24, 2019:

Ad Age notes the current fight for podcast dominance by Spotify and Pandora. We'd note that the article claims Castbox is the #1 podcast app; it also says Spotify has 170,000+ podcasts on its platform, while the US-only Pandora apparently has 100,000+ podcasts - Pandora's official blog claimed "hundreds of podcasts with over 100,000 episodes" a month ago.

January 18, 2019:

Paul Colligan posts his Podcast Predictions for 2019 in the latest episode of The Podcast Report. He views Pandora as having an "exponentially bigger" impact than Google; he forsees major changes at Apple Podcasts since Apple's turning into a service company; and thinks Instagram is the future for promoting podcasts. He says that Pandora is his #2 platform currently.

January 16, 2019:

"Hey, Pandora" - Pandora now has voice control. The initial information doesn't indicate how it works with podcasts.

January 11, 2019:

Thank you to 2019's new subscribers, including folk from Luminary, Himalaya, iHeart Media, RTBF, Audioboom, Pandora, Panoply, and ABC Australia.

December 12, 2018:

One in six British drivers listen to podcasts and music instead of radio, claims a survey done for car manufacturer Nissan. "Music, comedy and sport were the top podcast topics to listen to during a commute." Meanwhile, separate data from the US suggests that 25% of US commuters listen to podcasts and music.

December 7, 2018:

Podcasts are now live on Pandora, the US-only music service. "We are now introducing hundreds of podcasts", the official blog post says. Techcrunch also covers the news. The app has 76m users in the US.

November 21, 2018:

Digital audio advertising tech company AdsWizz has integrated its products with Google Display and Video 360. "The integration also opens up Pandora, the largest streaming music provider in the US, to audio ad buys via Google Display and Video 360."

November 19, 2018:

What's behind Spotify and Pandora's push to podcasts? Profits, says Marketwatch.

November 14, 2018:

Pandora, a US music service, has announced the launch of its podcast offering, powered by what it calls the Podcast Genome Project. There are screenshots at Engadget (and other publications). You can sign up for early access here.

November 7, 2018:

Pandora has hired Lindsay Bowen, a lawyer, as their new VP of Podcasts and Entertainment Content Partnerships.

October 30, 2018:

Waze has launched a new 'audio player', a way of listening to audio while using the app to avoid traffic on your commute. In addition to Spotify, the partner list includes Pandora, Deezer, TuneIn, and podcast platform Stitcher. Google Maps added Spotify a few weeks ago (but not Google Podcasts, because...).

October 12, 2018:

SoundCloud's ads will be sold in the US by Pandora, the company's announced.

October 10, 2018:

AdExchange writes Behind Pandora’s Big Bet On Podcasts, covering the US music service who've been working on a "Podcast Genome Project" for some time. Not much yet to announce.

September 5, 2018:

There's a trailer on the Serial website, which also contains subscribe buttons for Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Pandora.

August 17, 2018:

Welcome to new subscribers from great companies like Audioboom, RAJAR, the Financial Times, AdsWizz, MPR, Pandora and Gimlet Media.

June 8, 2018:

In Philadelphia, The Grit Live aims to be 'the Pandora of entrepreneurs'

June 6, 2018:

Google's DoubleClick's BidManager now lets you buy audio ads on "Google Play Music, Spotify, SoundCloud and TuneIn — with Pandora coming soon."

June 5, 2018:

AdsWizz has been awarded the “Best Overall Technology for Programmatic Trading” at the DRUM Digital Trading Awards on May 31 in London. Notable: other entries included video and display; Erik Barraud, AdsWizz’s head of product, said it feels in some ways like a milestone in the arrival of audio as a true medium for programmatic. The acquisition of the company by Pandora completed on May 29.

March 23, 2018:

AdsWizz is to be purchased by internet broadcaster Pandora for US$145m. AdsWizz, which supplies ad insertion to a number of content partners, will continue to operate independently.

March 2, 2018:

iHeartMedia are expected to file for bankruptcy over the weekend, suggests a Bloomberg report. Tom Taylor Now, a respected radio industry newsletter, also says the board has also just approved big bonus payments for some top executives at the same time as the company is slashing commission paid to its salespeople. Liberty Media, majority owner of SiriusXM, Virgin Media, Formula One and minority shareholder of Pandora, wants 40% of iHeartMedia.

February 22, 2018:

Triton Digital release their new webcast metrics ranker for December 2017. It measures streaming audio; Pandora and Spotify are at the top of the list, with NPR at #4.

February 7, 2018:

Pandora posts a set of plans for 2018 including dynamic ad personalisation and a plan for shorter audio ads.

November 20, 2017:

Pandora jumped over 4% in Thursday trading because they've said they might include more non-music content, aka podcasts.

November 8, 2017:

HotPod 139 is out; smart speakers, Slate and Pandora all get Nick Quah's attention. Reading time 18 minutes 42 seconds. Favourite quote: "Look, this is going to get pretty woo-woo head-in-the-clouds in, like, a hot second".

June 28, 2017:

Pandora will be a US-only service again, after planning to close in Australian and New Zealand, the only other countries they were present in. Guvera and Deezer's Aussie operations have also both closed. Operations are planned to wind-down "over the next few weeks". Of note: Pandora runs an in-store radio service for Woolworths, the 2nd biggest supermarket in Australia.