Pandora Announces Upbeat Q4, Year-End Financials

Pandora

PANDORA released  its Q4 and full year 2015 financial reports, which showed full year reveue was $1.164 billion, growing 26%, while Q4 revenue was $336.2 million, a rise of 25% over the previous year's period.

Full-year total RPMs were $54.65, a 19% growth, while ad RPMs were up 21%. Total RPMs in Q4 reached a record $60.75, growing 18% year-over-year, while Ad RPMs were up 19% to another record $57.20.

Full-year advertising revenue was $933.3 million, up 27%, while Q4 ad revenue was $269 million, representing 22% growith.

Total listener hours in 2015 were 21.11 billion, a 5% growth, while in Q4, hours were 5.37 billion, up 3%, but the number of listeners actually dropped over the last 12 months to 81.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 from 81.5 million a year earlier.

PANDORA shares were down 5.1% in after-hours trading, giving back most of THURSDAY's 8.5% gain that followed a report the company is seeking a buyer.

Commenting on the report, PANDORA CEO BRIAN McANDREWS stated: "In 2015 we demonstrated the power of our core industry-leading internet radio business and made substantial investments and progress toward building the world’s go-to music destination for listeners and artists alike – uniquely unifying the full music experience under one roof, spanning radio, on-demand, and live music.

“We enter 2016 with an enhanced portfolio of assets, cost certainty and substantial competitive advantages. We’re invested in the long-term and I could not have more conviction about the ability of PANDORA to lead the future of music. Given our confidence in our core advertising model, the massive long-term opportunity and the competitive advantages we have built, we believe 2016 is the time to build on this foundation and invest in our many opportunities to fuel revenue acceleration in 2017 and bolster long-term growth prospects.”

Last year, PANDORA acquired the ticketing company TICKETFLY and RDIO for $450 million and $75 million, respectively, ultimately shutting down the latter.

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