Pandora Third Quarter: Revenue's Up, Listening Hours Are Down

Mixed News

PANDORA third quarter 2017 total consolidated revenue rose 8% year-to-year to $378.6 million, with ad revenue up 1% to $275.7 million (ad RPM at an all-time high of $70.27, up 21%), but the company notes that the slight increase came from increased rates while the volume of sales declined.  The revenue boost was helped by an increase in subscription revenue of 50% to $84.4 million, while total subscriptions increased 29% to 5.19 million and premium paid subscriptions passed the million mark in OCTOBER. However, listener hours declined from 5.4 billion to 5.15 billion.  

Ticketing fell 16% to $18.5 milion, reflecting the divestiture of TICKETFLY in SEPTEMBER; the number of active listeners, 73.7 million at the end of the quarter, excludes 1.1 million from AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND reflecting the end of the company's business in those territories.

“After just a short time here at PANDORA, it’s clear to me we have a tremendous opportunity to meet the full spectrum of our listeners' and advertisers’ needs,” said PANDORA President/CEO ROGER LYNCH. “We have significant scale, distribution and products that deliver a superior listening experience. We will leverage these strengths to become a more integral part of our listeners’ lives and reinforce our position as the definitive source for audio advertising.”

“We had a solid financial quarter with revenue above our mid-point and adjusted EBITDA coming in very close to the high end of our guidance,” said CFO NAVEEN CHOPRA. "The growth we experienced in RPMs and subscription revenue indicates that our multi-tier service strategy can continue to enhance monetization in multiple listening modes. We also completed the investment by SIRIUSXM and the sale of TICKETFLY in the quarter, strengthening our balance sheet and bringing cash and short-term investments to nearly $500 million."

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