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No Sales Cuts At Pandora As Webcaster Adds To Its Team
April 22, 2014 at 3:58 AM (PT)
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It was just last week that ALL ACCESS reported a sales department restructuring taking place at CCM+E at the cluster/market/local level (NET NEWS 4/16). Those affected may be able to find new careers at webcaster PANDORA, which CRAINES NEW YORK reports now "has sales teams in 35 markets -- including top performers LOS ANGELES, CHICAGO and DALLAS -- and reportedly has plans to enter four or five more."
NEW YORK is PANDORA's sales HQ, with "a new two-floor, 50,000-square-foot office in midtown that holds nearly 200 employees, many of them radio-sales refugees from CLEAR CHANNEL and CBS RADIO. That's up from 95 a year ago, and could grow to 350 by next year. Their target: terrestrial radio's $17 billion in annual ad revenue -- in particular the $14 billion that comes from local advertisers," adds CRAINES.
"Half of the salespeople here are laser-focused on broadcast radio," said PANDORA's NEW YORK-based Chief Revenue Officer JOHN TRIMBLE told the magazine.
"PANDORA has eaten into the overall radio budget," said GROUPM Dir./Radio KIM VASEY. "They are making a dent in the space."
The report notes "executives at both CLEAR CHANNEL and CBS RADIO, the two largest radio operators, say they see no signs of any dent, and insist that their mix of local content and prominent personalities trumps PANDORA's personalized 'music genome' jukebox. They also question how much of the service's revenue comes from audio ads, as opposed to digital display and video."
"They are not truly one station," said HORIZON MEDIA Managing Dir./Audio and Promotions LAUREN RUSSO. RUSSO said she uses PANDORA in her media buys -- but takes the money out of the digital audio pool, not the radio pool.

