Music streaming site Pandora has launched sponsored listening for brands – ad-free listening for users who watch a brand’s video ad or engage with its interactive media for at least 15 seconds.
The offering is currently in the US, however is expected to be rolled out in Australia within the next few months.
Per AdWeek Pandora had been testing sponsored listening with a number of brands already, and now the music site has launched the offering to all advertisers and the millions of active listeners.
The offering is only available on mobile as this is where most listeners are, however Pandora’s product lead in the States, Jonathan Eccles, said the brand has already seen a heap of positive feedback from the beta testing.
“The real biggest thing we wanted to test for ourselves was, ‘Is this something that really changes how consumers perceive advertisers?'” said Eccles. “Is this something that makes people really happy to encounter an ad? What the beta proved out is that, yes, it is.”
Pandora Australia’s marketing director, Nicole McInnes told B&T the music streaming site’s goal is to eventually have an ad-funded model to keep radio free.
“Part of our mission is to innovate on traditional business models to keep radio free but provide a targeted, relevant and less intrusive experience for listeners. Sponsored listening is a part of that,” she said.
“Pandora is the market leader in three key metrics globally – registered listeners, hours listened and active listeners. In fact Pandora has the most hours of any app on mobile beating Facebook, Apple and Youtube according to Comscore.
Check out a video of the new offering here.