Pandora to Roll Out Muted Video and Responsive Display Ads to All Advertisers

First in a series of new, native mobile ad formats deliver lifts in time spent, brand awareness and quality clicks

Pandora's Muted Video Product (Photo: Business Wire)

OAKLAND, Calif.--()--Pandora (NYSE:P), the go-to music source for fans and artists, today announced it will roll out its Muted Video and Responsive Mobile Display ads to all advertisers on January 19, 2017. These new ad formats drive compelling results across the key performance indicators marketers care about most: time spent with ads, brand favorability and intent to purchase. Originally introduced in June 2016 to select beta partners including Denny’s, Express, Google, the Lexus Dealer Association and Ascent Protein, Pandora’s new mobile ad formats - the first in the company’s Visual Ad Experience suite - present rich display and video ads within the square space typically reserved for album art, leveraging responsive design to seamlessly adjust ads to any phone’s screen size.

“We applied the same expertise that makes us the leader in audio advertising to our new visual ads to deliver strong, measurable results,” said John Trimble, chief revenue officer at Pandora. “We are reinventing our mobile display ads to take full advantage of screen real estate and features native to our platform. And because our display ads are served only when a listener is looking at their phone and we have one of the largest logged-in user bases, we are uniquely positioned to deliver listener attention to advertisers at scale.”

On average, beta partners saw up to 50 percent increases in time spent with the Responsive Mobile Display ads and refreshed Mobile 300x250s as compared to previous formats, and double digit lifts in brand favorability, awareness and message resonance.1 And because music drives positive brand association, advertisers leveraging Pandora’s new Muted Video solution saw a 32 percent increase in listeners who spend at least five seconds with the video, as well as strong completion rates.

“At Denny’s, we understand the importance of continuing to find new and innovative ways to connect with our fans on their terms and in their terms, especially in the digital world,” said John Dillon, chief marketing officer at Denny’s. “Our recent beta partnership with Pandora offered us an opportunity to showcase the launch of our new Buttermilk Pancakes in a way that was highly engaging, while also being cohesive—rather than intrusive—to our target audience’s online experience.”

In addition to delivering strong results for brands, these new ads are resonating with listeners. In a recent survey of Pandora listeners, three out of four said they prefer the new experience and 74 percent said they were more likely to engage with the new formats.2

This is the most recent advertising innovation from Pandora, joining both the award-winning Sponsored Listening and a new advertising opportunity that lets brands sponsor skips and replays. Both ad solutions win attention and drive high listener engagement.

Learn more about Pandora’s visual ad experience here.

ABOUT PANDORA

Pandora is the world’s most powerful music discovery platform – a place where artists find their fans and listeners find music they love. We are driven by a single purpose: unleashing the infinite power of music by connecting artists and fans, whether through earbuds, car speakers, live on stage or anywhere fans want to experience it. Our team of highly trained musicologists analyze hundreds of attributes for each recording which powers our proprietary Music Genome Project®, delivering billions of hours of personalized music tailored to the tastes of each music listener, full of discovery, making artist/fan connections at unprecedented scale. Founded by musicians, Pandora empowers artists with valuable data and tools to help grow their careers and connect with their fans.

www.pandora.com | @pandoramusic | www.pandoraforbrands.com | @PandoraBrands | amp.pandora.com

1. Millward Brown Digital, September 2016

2. Pandora Soundboard VAE Survey, Oct 2016

Contacts

Pandora
Jette Speights
Public Relations
jspeights@pandora.com

Contacts

Pandora
Jette Speights
Public Relations
jspeights@pandora.com