Pandora, the personal online radio streaming service, has signed 150 million registered users, the company recently announced at the CTIA Wireless Conference in New Orleans.
Plus, the company has rapidly progressed on mobile. More than 100 million users access Pandora through a smartphone or tablet, with 70 percent of users accessing the site through mobile. One in three US smartphone users listens to Pandora monthly.
“The continued growth of Pandora shows that personalized radio is fundamentally changing the way people listen to music,” said Joe Kennedy, CEO of Pandora. “Mobile connectivity has allowed us to deliver on our mission of providing people with music they love at a scale that presents unprecedented opportunities for both artists and advertising partners.”
A lot of that success comes from the fact that Pandora is now the second highest downloaded app of all time, which Kennedy credits to having been available on the iOS App Store from the first day of sales.
With 311 million people in the US according to US Census Bureau statistics, the company commands an audience that spreads through the population, even after allowing for duplicate accounts.
The company has also pursued aggressive strategies to launch its music player in cars. Pandora shares partnerships with 25 automotive brands to offer its personalized radio service in the dashboard entertainment system of a car. The service is available in 48 models of vehicles, with more than 10 additional models set to be released this year.
Mobile advertising is also taking off for the company. Its mobile ad revenues grew from $25 million in 2011 to more than $100 million in 2012. In fact, Pandora now stands second only to Google for mobile advertising revenue.
As of April, Pandora users had listened to 1.06 billion hours of radio, an 87 percent increase from the year before.