Ads That Resonate: Creating a Better Video Ad Experience

For an ad to be effective, it needs to resonate. But that’s easier said than done. Not only do people use multiple devices every hour of every day, they’re also bombarded by ads that annoy—popping up at unexpected times, draining battery life, obstructing views or (heaven forbid) presenting you with “unsavory” content.

That’s why Pandora is putting more control into the hands of our listeners. We recently announced exciting new features that will transform our subscription and ad-supported tiers. For the first time ever, listeners will have the ability to unlock additional song skips or replays of their favorite tracks. If the listener is exposed to advertising on Pandora, they can access these new features by first opting to view a video ad.

As listeners ourselves, we bet you can’t wait to skip unwanted songs or replay Britney Spears’ “Make Me…” as many times as you want (c’mon, you know you like it!). For us, this is yet another extension of our philosophy that “what’s good for the listener, is good for the advertiser”. When a person is involved in creating their own experience, the doors are flung wide open for brands to resonate.

This is the future of advertising. In fact, users are nearly 4x more receptive to a brand message when they feel they have control over the ad experience¹. When someone chooses to view an ad—engagement, attention and resonance follow naturally. Advertisers not only get to support an enhanced listener experience, they can connect with a more deeply engaged audience. Each video impression is that much more valuable and powerful!

At Pandora, we’re relentless about creating innovative, new ways for our advertising partners to be successful, while also empowering a more positive listening experience. Pandora’s new way of delivering video ads is just the latest step towards granting users more control and flexibility when it comes to advertising. When we pair this with Pandora’s 1,000+ audience targeting segments, advertisers have an even greater opportunity to connect with their desired audience with ads made to resonate.

Our advertising partners have already seen success with video on Pandora, driving an average 42% lift in unaided brand awareness and 29% lift in ad awareness². Taco Bell has consistently partnered with Pandora on video strategies that deliver quality experiences to the consumer.

We’ll be rolling out this new video experience over the next month on iOS and Android smartphones, and it will be seamlessly integrated into our existing Video Everywhere and Platform-Specific Video ad products at no additional cost to advertisers. These new features will also apply to Genre Sponsorships and Brand Stations, letting advertisers add video messaging to the in-station experience for the first time.

We’re excited to continue redefining what video advertising looks like. Contact us to discuss adding Pandora video to your next campaign.

^{Sources: 1 Millward Brown, “AdReaction: Video Creative in a Digital World,” October 2015 2 Millward Brown, Video Norms, Q1 2016}