How Pandora Premium Access Is Faring As Competition Intensifies

Six months after its debut, Pandora Media Inc P’s Premium Access has recorded more than 6.5 million listeners and more than 55 million total sessions, a company spokesperson told Benzinga.

Listeners 25 and under have represented 44 percent of Premium Access users and repeats such sessions at higher rates than other demographics.

"The 6.5 million listeners who have tried Premium Access represent the unique number of ad-supported and Plus listeners who opted into a 15-second video ad in order to access a Premium session after searching for a song, album or playlist," the spokesperson said.

Why It’s Important

Pandora has had a rough few years amid the emergence of competing platforms. Shares steadily fell from $37.42 in February 2014 to $5.32 in April 2018.

Notably, though, its paid service seems to be performing on par with rivals. Spotify Technology SA SPOT recently boasted 70 million subscribers and Apple Inc. AAPL Music 40 million.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Tencent Music Entertainment Group, China’s largest streaming music company, "is preparing what would be one of the biggest technology IPOs ever."

Spotify is now eight years into its operations and took eight quarters to strike the 6 million-user mark, while Apple Music reported 6.5 million in its first quarter.

What’s Next

Pandora will report earnings May 3 and likely provide a more in-depth update of Premium Access performance. The stock traded around $5.30 at time of publication.

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