Attention, Guaranteed: Pandora’s Viewability Solution

By Chris Record, Vice President of Revenue Operations, Pandora

Did you know that nearly 90% of consumers’ mobile time spent is on mobile apps¹? Today, mobile apps are the go-to source for everything from personal connection, to entertainment, to grabbing transportation. As a result, U.S. mobile in-app ad spending will reach $29.6 billion in 2016², with marketers investing on the platforms where people spend the most time.

As brand dollars migrate to mobile in-app, there is a growing shift in the expectations around campaign measurement with advertisers wanting to go beyond the standard impression and click to ensure their messages are actually seen. At Pandora, we understand that attention is key and the starting point begins with viewable impressions. This is why we are proud to announce Pandora’s integrated solution, powered by digital analytics company Moat, which allows advertisers to seamlessly buy 100% in-view impressions across mobile in-app and desktop. This solution is part of Pandora’s ongoing commitment to deliver the transparency advertisers need to effectively measure success.

Now, not only does Pandora offer a highly viewable environment, but brand messages can receive guaranteed attention.

Making sure ads are seen is crucial to increasing ROI and reaching mobile advertising goals. Giving advertisers the option to buy viewable impressions allows our advertising partners to reach their intended audience on Pandora while delivering on a key performance indicator: cost per viewable impressions.

Pandora has built a quality advertising environment that maximizes viewability and engagement. We are also the leader in mobile time spent, with over 91% of our 85 million monthly uniques³ listening to their favorite artists, songs or podcasts on our mobile apps.

In developing Pandora’s solution we saw an opportunity to drive mobile in-app measurement forward for the industry, while delivering a simple and seamless option for our brand partners to transact on viewability metrics. In order to accomplish that goal, we partnered with third-party provider Moat, the only MRC accredited vendor for mobile in-app viewability measurement.

Moat has been Pandora’s preferred partner since 2014. We have deepened our partnership by integrating Moat technology into our platform to now offer the ability to verify in-view display and video across mobile in-app and desktop. The extension of Pandora’s viewability offering to the mobile in-app environment further reinforces our dedication to measuring mobile ad effectiveness.

The Moat integration allows Pandora the ability to optimize campaign delivery to ensure 100% in-view performance. Advertisers do not have to pay for measurement using our first-party solution, nor do they have to spend any time with the set-up process.

Pandora’s Viewability Solution includes:

• Transact on 100% In-View Impressions
• vCPM Pricing Model Based on Moat Metrics
• Mobile In-App and Desktop Platforms
• Display and Video Inventory
• No Additional Serving Fees for First-Party

You may wonder why Pandora, the largest, leading audio platform in the U.S., is focusing their efforts on in-app viewability. With approximately 10 distinct visual interactions per day with our mobile app⁴, Pandora is uniquely poised to capture people’s attention. Guaranteeing 100% in-view impressions is an important step in delivering brand impact. Earlier this month, we announced the Visual Ad Experience, a new mobile ad product which will offer an end-to-end viewability solution. This will enable advertisers to both guarantee 100% in-view impressions, while tapping into a more native interactive ad experience. Pandora gives brands guaranteed attention, delivering an ad experience that ensures both the user and advertiser are getting the experience they want. And now with the ability to transact on 100% viewable impressions using Moat metrics, Pandora is committed to serving quality impressions that help brands drive better business outcomes and positive ROI. ^{Source 1 Yahoo Flurry Analytics, Q3 2015 2 eMarketer, US Mobile Ad-Spending, Mobile In-App vs Web, March 2015 3 comScore, Key Metrics, June 2016 4 Pandora Internal Metrics, May 2016}