The company hit that number by adding 302,000 self pay subscribers in the third quarter of 2019. Pro-forma revenue for Sirius grew by 7% to $2 Billion. CEO Jim Meyer said it was an excellent quarter across the board.
On the Pandora said Meyer said that business was moved to profitability due to cost efficiencies. He said there is still a lot of heavy lifting to do with Pandora. While ad supported listening hours are down (7%) on Pandora, Meyer said it was the best quarter Pandora has had for advertising revenue.
On podcasting Meyer said the company will be disciplined. “To us it’s not about quantity, it’s all about the value of the quality of the content.”
First and foremost, according to Meyer, is building a very robust structure. “And by that I mean technical structure that can support that business in a way we think it needs to be supported, including with the ad technology that we think is necessary to tailor the ads. Our teams are working on some things that we think are a solid roadmap to do that. That may involve some small things involving outside partners or we may do it all ourselves.”
Meyers says he expects to have more visibility in the first half of next year. “But I will tell you that’s not an earth-shattering type of investment. It is work and we have to get it right. We know what we want there and we’re moving towards it.
