Unlocking the Power of On-Demand: Introducing the All-New Pandora
In today’s entertainment landscape, consumers have more choice of media consumption than ever, and there are a plethora of platforms competing for their attention. Moreover, with the rise of on-demand formats, consumers are spending almost twice as much time with digital media than they are with traditional TV, which points to a clear shift in audiences looking to listen or watch what they want, whenever they want.1
This shift wasn’t lost on us here at Pandora. In fact, did you know that there was a 470% increase in searches for ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ during the last Solar Eclipse? 2 That’s right! We see search requests like these for specific songs, albums, and podcasts everyday. So in 2018, we introduced Premium Access, offering ad-supported listeners access to the songs and albums they searched for instantly, and on-demand.
This week marks another major milestone in bringing discovery and on-demand access to the forefront via our new listener experience, introducing two new personalized and discovery-driven features:
This makes it easier than ever for Pandora’s ad-supported listeners to access more content they love and have yet to discover, instantly. And from what we see, our listeners are loving it: already, more than 2X listeners are engaging with “For You” than the traditional Browse feature it replaced. And those listeners are engaging with the personalized content they discover via For You 3X more than through traditional browsing.3 In other words, more listeners are listening to more of Pandora’s vast catalog of content than ever before.
So, how can marketers integrate their brand’s message into these exciting, relevant moments of engagement & delight? Enter: Video Plus.
Video Plus is a rewarded ad experience that allows advertisers to reach listeners in active discovery mode, whether that’s searching for the latest album from their favorite artists, listening to a playlist shared from their friends, or checking out new music via For You. Once a user clicks to listen to on-demand content, a Video Plus ad plays, capturing the attention & eyeballs of consumers as they eagerly await for the music to begin. This solution gives brands the opportunity to instantly be a part of the conversation through music.
Heineken is one of the many advertisers who have leveraged Video Plus to reach listeners in these highly-engaging moments. Their Now You Can campaign promotes their Heineken 0.0 product, an alcohol-free beer that allows consumers to enjoy the taste at any time of day. Ashleigh Phelps, Brand Manager for Heineken tells us, “Heineken 0.0 is all about ‘Now You Can Moments.’ It is for those moments in life when you want a great beer but just don’t want the alcohol. We’re excited to align with Pandora on these new “Now You Can” moments that allow listeners to unlock premium content and features through personalized recommendations, which provides new opportunities for Heineken 0.0 to drive awareness with our core demographic.”
As consumer behaviors and trends continue to evolve, we intend to evolve with them by being the ultimate audio companion for every occasion. In doing so, we can create an ad platform where brands benefit from moments to surprise and delight through the right balance of brand engagement and listener rewards.
- eMarketer, US Time Spent with Media 2019
- Pandora Internal Metrics, August 2017
- Pandora Internal Metrics, November 2019