Pandora Interim CEO Naveen Chopra Addresses The Future At Bernstein Conference

Naveen Chopra

Newly minted PANDORA Interim CEO NAVEEN CHOPRA appeared at a conference hosted by BERNSTEIN RESEARCH YESTERDAY (6/28), and THE STREET reports on his first public comments as head of the webcaster.

"Our strategy is to nail the passive listening experience and make sure we have on-demand as an option but not lose sight of our strength," said CHOPRA, adding, "The winners and losers in the music streaming space will be really be determined by who can build the most compelling consumer product."

"When I think about the path forward, I think this is less about subscription versus on-demand as though the two are mutually exclusive," he said. "What SIRIUS sees in PANDORA is a big advertising opportunity that has not been developed to its full potential. Let's pursue on-demand as long as it's not a drag on the ad-supported free model. But to the extent it can be additive, that's a pretty good strategy."

"With one transaction, we were able to address a lot of the nonmarket forces that have been buffeting PANDORA over the past year or two," CHOPRA said. "This helps answer the question whether we have enough capital to compete with the GOOGLES and APPLES of the world."

"There's no commercial commitment in the agreement with SIRIUS," CHOPRA added. "But there are still a lot of things that PANDORA and SIRIUS can do together to address the remaining part of the terrestrial radio market. A great consumer and advertiser proposition will ultimately lead to returns for investors."

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