New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Pandora (NYSE:P), the leading
Internet radio service, today announced that its latest engagement-based advertising product, Sponsored Listening, is now available to all advertisers. The product gives
Pandora users an hour of uninterrupted listening following their engagement with a brand's video or rich media unit at the beginning of their session. This launch follows a beta period initiated in
September 2014 during which Sponsored Listening received positive feedback from Pandora's listeners and produced a measurable return on investment for advertisers.
During the beta testing period for the product, Sponsored Listening resulted in a 12 percent lift in brand awareness and a 30 percent lift in purchase intent for advertisers. Consumers also praised the product via Twitter and Facebook, stating that they loved the experience.
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Pandora Sponsored Listening offers listeners one hour of uninterrupted music in exchange for quality engagements: pdora.co/sponsored-listening
"As the competition for consumer attention continues to intensify, brands are looking for advertising products that can help them create a lasting impression and resonate with their target audiences," said
Lizzie Widhelm, Pandora's senior vice president of advertising product strategy and sales. "Sponsored Listening enhances our suite of engagement-based advertising solutions by building on products such as
Brand Stations, and is another manifestation of our philosophy that what's good for the listener is good for the advertiser."
In addition to being available for all
Pandora advertisers, Sponsored Listening now also offers advertisers more creative opportunity. In the beta phase, video ad units or swipe-able slideshows initiated the hour of uninterrupted listening. Now, with general availability, a brand can also introduce additional rich media units, such as interactive 360-degree product views, in advance of the sponsored hour. In addition to advertisers like Land Rover North
America that have extended from the beta phase to general availability, new brands leveraging Pandora's Sponsored Listening solution post-beta include:
Corona Extra, Gatorade, truTV and Yuengling.
"The Sponsored Listening offering is unique, and we jumped at the opportunity to align with this attention-based service during the launch of the new Discovery Sport," said Kim Kyaw, digital marketing and social media manager at Land Rover North America. "Pandora's Sponsored Listening product allowed consumers to engage with the vehicle - by watching a video or by interacting with a 360 degree unit - for at least 15 seconds. Opportunities to engage with our consumers around new vehicle launches within premium listening environments are difficult to find."
