Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Pandora Targets Spotify, iHRadio With Programmatic Audio Ads

Pandora said today that it will now offer its audio inventory programmatically through popular demand-side platforms such as MediaMath, The Trade Desk and AdsWizz.

According to AdAge, Pandora is the last of the three major digital music streaming platforms to offer audio ads through automation, but the company says it brings a significantly larger audience to the table. The move also comes at a time when digital audio is capturing more ad dollars compared to previous years.

Through the first six months of 2017, digital audio grew 42 percent year-over-year to $603 million, and of that, $448 million came from mobile, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau's latest digital ad revenue report.

Chris Record, VP or revenue operations at Pandora, says about 85 percent of Pandora's purchased inventory comes from mobile.

Rivals Spotify and iHeartRadio began offering audio ads through programmatic late last year, but Pandora claims it can reach more users than either of its competitors. Pandora has some 92 million monthly active users on its platform, according to ComScore, while Spotify has 89 million. IHeartRadio, meanwhile, has roughly 30 million.

Although Pandora already offers its audio inventory "programmatically" through broadcast planning and buying platforms MediaOcean and Strata, those are mainly used by broadcast buyers, the company says. Through its recent integration with outfits like The Trade Desk, though, the company will be able to sell its audio ads in similar fashion to how it sells video or display with agencies.

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