Pandora Weighs Talk Radio as It Targets More Listeners in Cars
Pandora Media, the biggest internet radio company, is considering expanding its programming beyond music to formats such as sports, news and talk as the service becomes more available in cars and can attract listeners on the road.
“Music’s an important piece of radio listening in the car, but if there’s a place where spoken word is also equally, and more important really, it’s in the car,” Pandora Chief Financial Officer Michael Herring said. He said it’s too early to specify the content or timing.
Pandora, which makes money from ad sales and ad-free subscriptions, is looking to autos as one way to jump start growth as the number of active users stalls amid competition with Spotify, Apple and Google. The company’s active listeners grew 7.5% to 76.4 million users in the second quarter compared with a rise of 30% a year earlier.
