Pandora Offers New Possibilities for Advertisers

According to an article published by Christopher Heine, Pandora’s new software for audience segmentation will help them increase ad sales.  Pandora has partnered with StrataMarketing and Mediaocean to “allow clients of the media-buying software providers to view the digital radio player’s customer segments” (Heine).

This software will allow ad buyers to compare and contrast Pandora’s audience data against statistics from broadcast radio stations. The software will make things easier and faster for brand marketers who previously had to conduct manual research to obtain this information.

Now, Pandora can obtain demographical information including ethnicity, age, and zip codes from their users. This information is collected when users register for the service. “So, now the agencies will be able to target, for example, 18-to-34-year-old Hispanic women in Los Angeles who enjoy hip-hop” (Heine).

Currently, 65.6 million people in the United States use Pandora. This is a very attractive number for advertisers, especially now, that they can truly segment their target audience. Now, they will have the ability to pick and choose who they want to deliver their message to. I believe this is the ideal situation for any media buyer. It is almost like they can handpick their target audience.

What I am curious about is, what will this do for broadcast radio advertising sales? If companies are 100% certain that they will reach the ideal user, why wouldn’t they advertise on digital radio? Why would they pay to advertise on broadcast radio if they are not certain their target audience will hear their message?

 It seems to me that companies who choose to advertise on Pandora have an incredible advantage over companies who advertise on broadcast radio, especially because they can deliver their message to people within a specific age, ethnicity and even address.