Pandora: Restless Finger Syndrome Caused Mostly By Commercials

Pandora was quick to comment on Edison Research’s latest data about AM/FM listeners that change stations about 22 times per commute.

In a white paper, Pandora states “by a significant margin, the top two reasons for switching AM/FM are the commercials and to skip disliked songs.”

Pandora also claims that 7 out of 10 drivers report that they change the station when they are in the car and listening to AM/FM when commercials come on.

In its white paper , Pandora says drivers know that radio stations often play 10 or more commercials in a row. “They also know they can avoid them with a simple push of a preset. Seven out of 10 commuters report they don’t listen to the full commercial break, and nearly half of them claim they don’t even last through the first commercial. But it’s not just the ads that are causing them to switch—it’s equally due to repetitive, unpersonalized playlists. And what happens when you combine repetitive playlists with a seemingly endless run of commercials? You get drivers who switch stations a lot—22 times in each direction of their daily commute. That’s 44 switches just going to and from work.”