In his latest blog, immediately following the change at the top of Pandora, Cumulus/Westwood One CMO Pierre Bouvard asks the question, “Will Pandora be to streaming what MySpace was to social media?” Bouvard says Edison Research’s latest Share of Ear study reveals why trouble is brewing for Pandora, specifically in the 18-24 demo.
One of the problems Pandora is having with the younger demo, according to Bouvard, has to do with YouTube and Spotify. “YouTube and Spotify are now nearly 2.5 times as big as Pandora. Over the last year, share of 18-24 time spent listening to YouTube and Spotify has surged 45%. Meanwhile Pandora’s 18-24 shares are up only a bit.” And he says Spotify users have more passion for the product than Pandora users do. “Spotify does a much better job converting reach into audience share of time spent listening. Among 18-24s, or every 1% of reach, Spotify generates a .45 share. Pandora is only able to convert 1% of reach into a .37 share.
Bouvard also quotes research from Bridge ratings which he says shows time spent listening to Pandora is declining. :Since 2014, the number of daily listening occasions to Pandora is decreasing, and people are also spending less time per listening occasion with the service.”
Read Bouvard’s latest posting HERE
