Pandora Hits 55 Million Active Listeners

Sites include Pandora.com . Published on August 23rd, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

Pandora is picking up steam in a big way and just announced a whopping 55 million active listeners. This is a 48% growth upon figures for the same time last year and shows that the online radio platform is setting new heights for online radio.

Engagement is also growing on Pandora and listeners spent a total of 1.12 billion hours listening in July 2012. Contrast that with the 637 million listening hours recorded in July of 2011 and it becomes apparent that Pandora is doing something right to keep its listeners engaged. That 76% increase in engagement has no doubt opened up advertising and partnership opportunities for Pandora and as we covered in a story months ago, several car makers are looking to have make Pandora a big part of their in-car entertainment.

The company is also making strides in the US. In July 2011 Pandora commanded only 3.51% of the US radio listening market; fast forward a year later and that figure is a whopping 6.13%–a near doubling of market share.

At this stage it seems, the only direction Pandora knows to travel is up and that is good thing for the marketplace. Consumers and die-hard radio listeners will have more choice and the best thing perhaps is that it’s a choice that enables them to maximize the mobile devices they are traveling round with.