Pandora is among the world’s most popular streaming services. Millions of people globally use the internet radio.
Sure, everybody loves music. But what makes people choose Pandora?
To answer that question, we gathered some interesting Pandora statistics below.
Read on for more details about the service.
Pivotal Pandora Facts (Editor’s Choice)
- As of 2021, Pandora had 55.1 million active users.
- Pandora reached 6.5 million paid subscribers in October 2021.
- 91% of listeners access the platform via mobile.
- Pandora users play music for two hours and 15 minutes per day on average.
- It is the second-biggest digital audio platform after Spotify.
- In 2020, the internet radio had its first negative year-on-year revenue.
- 190 car models have Pandora Music built-in.
Pandora Revenue
After this quick peek at the key Pandora radio statistics, let’s dive into more detail.
1. Pandora’s founders launched Savage Beast Technologies in 2000.
(Source: ZIPPIA)The company’s founders are Will Glaser, John Kraft, and Tim Westergren.
They created Savage Beast to provide software to help music stores make more sales.
Unfortunately, this was a dying industry, so the company struggled for years.
2. Pandora employees worked for two years without pay.
(Source: ZIPPIA)The Pandora statistics weren’t always bright.
The company ran through its initial $2 million funding in 2001.
Somehow, Tim Westergren managed to convince its 50 employees to continue working for free.
This saved the business.
3. The company changed its name and purpose in 2005.
(Source: ZIPPIA)Five years after its launch, Savage Beast Technologies became Pandora Media.
It also changed its focus to digital music.
4. Pandora was the first online service to prioritize personalization.
(Source: Business Of Apps)Pandora’s original concept was to help users discover new music based on their preferences.
It was the first online service to focus on personalization. Later on, Spotify and Apple Music imitated its model.
In spite of its original business strategy, it was a few years before Pandora's profits started growing.
5. Pandora went public in 2011.
(Source: TechCrunch)The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange. The pricing of its IPO was 14.7 million shares of common stock at $16 per share.
6. Pandora was the top internet radio of 2013.
(Source: The Washington Post)2013 Pandora radio stats revealed that it accounted for 70% of all radio listening in the US.
7. Pandora’s revenue hit $1 billion in 2015.
(Source: Business Of Apps)Fourteen years after its launch, Pandora made its first billion in revenue.
The company got close to the one billion mark in 2014. It ended the year with $0.91 billion.
8. The largest acquisition of Pandora was Ticketfly.
(Source: Business Of Apps)Ticketfly is a ticket distribution service. Pandora acquired it in 2015 for $450 million.
Two years later, the music streaming platform sold Ticketfly to Eventbrite for $200 million.
9. Pandora’s revenue in Q3 2021 was $538 million.
(Source: Statista)The company’s revenue experienced a slight decrease from Q4 2020 when it generated $555 million. That was its all-time record.
10. Pandora made $1.69 billion in 2020.
(Source: Business Of Apps)As mentioned, 2020 was the first year with a negative year-on-year revenue. It dropped from $1.72 billion in 2019.
11. In 2019, Pandora held a 2% market share.
(Source: T4)This put the company in sixth place. The leaders were Spotify with 36%, Apple Music with 18%, and Amazon with 13%.
12. Pandora’s valuation has decreased from 2014.
(Source: Business Of Apps)In 2014, it was evaluated at $7.7 billion. Its valuation decreased to $2.1 billion in 2016 and went up a little to $3.5 billion in 2018.
The numbers never returned to their previous level, though. In 2019, SiriusXM Holdings acquired Pandora for $3.5 billion in stock.
13. Ads account for nearly 70% of Pandora Music’s total revenue.
(Source: Entrepreneur 360)In 2020, 69.8% of Pandora’s revenue came from advertising.
How does it generate money from ads?
The company sells advertising placements and then plays the ads to its non-subscriber listeners.
14. Pandora has lost over 20 million monthly active users in the US from 2016 to 2021.
(Source: Statista)Pandora’s popularity has been decreasing since Q4 2016.
Back then, it had 81 million active users in the US. In Q2 2021, they were down to 55.1 million.
15. Pandora had 6.3 million paid subscribers in 2020.
(Source: Business Of Apps)Even though the overall number of Pandora users decreases, the paid subscriber count keeps rising.
They were 3.3 million in 2014, steadily growing each year to reach 6.3 million in 2020.
16. On Pandora, artists earn one dollar per 752 streams.
(Source: Visual Capitalist)Pandora stats reveal that in September 2019, an artist needed 752 streams to earn a single dollar.
This was way more than the requirements for Spotify and Apple Music—229 and 136, respectively.
17. The internet radio made its biggest profit in 2019.
(Source: Business Of Apps)Pandora’s yearly profits have been increasing since 2010. In 2019, it reached $938 million.
The following year, the company reported an enormous decrease, though. Its profit dropped to $131 million in 2020.
Pandora Radio Users
Now that we know more about the company’s history and financials, let’s look into some interesting Pandora user statistics.
18. Pandora is more renowned than Spotify among US adults and teens.
(Source: eMarketer)83% of US citizens aged 12+ have heard of Pandora Music. This makes it the first streaming service in terms of brand awareness.
Next in the chart are Spotify with 76%, Apple Music and iHeart Radio with 72% each, and Amazon Music with 70%.
19. In Q1 2021, Pandora had 55.9 million users.
(Source: SiriusXM)A SiriusXM report shows that the internet radio had 55.9 million monthly active users in Q1 2021.
That was an 8% decrease compared to the same period in 2020.
20. Pandora had 6,456 paid subscribers in Q1 2021.
(Source: SiriusXM)Only 64 of them were paid promotional subscribers. The rest were self-pay users.
Although the overall number of listeners had decreased compared to 2020, the paid user count marked a small growth.
21. In March 2018, the largest portion of Pandora listeners were in the 25-34 age group.
(Source: Statista)Pandora demographics show that 28% of users were aged 25-34.
Next came the 55+ group with 22%, followed by those aged 35-44 with 21%, and 45-54 with 17%.
The 18-24-year-olds made up the smallest part of Pandora’s user base, with 11%.
22. In February 2018, 59% of Pandora users were female.
(Source: Statista)The gender distribution was relatively equal.
Still, 2018 Pandora statistics revealed that more than half of the US Pandora users were female.
23. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” was the most popular song on Pandora in 2019.
(Source: CheatSheet)Pandora’s 2019 top song was “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus.
The next four on the list were:
- “MIDDLE CHILD” by J. Cole
- “7 rings” by Ariana Grande
- “Wow.” by Post Malone
- “Please Me” by Cardi B & Bruno Mars
24. “Earned It” by The Weeknd is the most-liked song of the 2010s.
(Source: CheatSheet)The most thumbed up songs on Pandora for the 2010s are:
- “Earned It” by The Weeknd
- “Someone Like You” by Adele
- “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
- “The Motto” by Drake
- “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran
25. The most listened-to genres in 2020 were rap and hip hop.
(Source: RESPECT.)Pandora radio statistics reveal that the “Top Thumb Hundred” songs for 2020 were either rap or hip hop.
The users’ favorite was the scandalous WAP by Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion.
Next in the top five were:
- “The Box '' by Roddy Ricch
- “Laugh Now Cry Later” by Drake ft. Lil Durk
- “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion
- “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch
26. Pandora users spent 20.61 billion hours on the platform in 2017.
(Source: Statista)The most listening hours on Pandora were recorded in 2016—a total of 21.96 billion.
Pandora Trends
Although Pandora is more recognizable than Spotify, its growth rate in the past few years has been slower.
In the following section, we explore Pandora’s development and the experts’ predictions about its future.
27. Spotify is Pandora’s biggest competitor.
(Source: HEADPHONESTY)The 2022 Pandora vs Spotify battle shapes up to be a close run.
Pandora is slightly more popular in the US, but Spotify is the fastest-growing streaming service.
Available only in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, Pandora limits its user base growth potential.
Spotify, on the other hand, expands across a large number of markets.
But perhaps the most important difference between Spotify and Pandora is the audio quality. Spotify wins in that respect.
28. Pandora is the second most used app for podcasts in the US.
(Source: First Site Guide)35% of podcast listeners in the US use Pandora. Still, the leader of the chart is Spotify, with 43%.
29. Pandora has a podcast library with over 600,000 episodes.
(Source: INSIDER)Podcasts have been available on the platform since 2018.
Since then, Pandora has added thousands of shows to its collection. Some of the genres include news, comedy, true crime, and sports.
Users with a free plan can also listen to podcasts on Pandora.
30. In 2017, Spotify had 40 times more songs than Pandora.
(Source: Free Your Music)A comparison between Spotify and Pandora radio statistics reveals that Spotify wins in one more category.
It boasted 40 million songs in 2017, while Pandora had just over one million.
31. Pandora is much cheaper than Apple Music.
(Source: iMobie)When choosing your music streaming platform, you have to consider a few components.
Naturally, one of them is the price. In that respect, Pandora has an advantage in the 2022 Pandora vs Apple Music battle.
Unlike Apple Music, the internet radio offers a free plan. And free is hard to beat.
32. Pandora shows ongoing and yearly personal radio statistics.
(Source: Pandora Community)Pandora shows users their wrap-up stats every year.
Thanks to Pandora Playback, you can see your top sounds and listening habits every year. It’s very similar to Spotify Wrapped.
To access your Pandora stats throughout the year, log in to the Pandora Community. From there, you can get info on your posts, likes, and some listening statistics.
Wrap Up
The platform has a long history in the music streaming market. However, recent Pandora statistics show that its progress has slowed down.
Will the company change its strategy?
What do you think Pandora’s revenue in 2022 will be?
We’ll find out soon enough.
Sources
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