Pandora Beats the Street: $162 Million in Revenue, CEO Isn't Worried About iTunes Radio
As iTunes Radio looms and streaming radio grows outgoing Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy has an upbeat story to tell about the company’s finances: “Everything’s going the way we want it to go,” he told All Things D in an interview this afternoon.
Most important is that that Pandora is now making some real money from mobile ads. Mobile ads will continue to play a key part in Pandora’s success going forward, with over 2.5 million mobile listeners of as of June it’s important they are able to monetize them. Kennedy also dismissed concerns about Apple’s impending iTunes Radio launch, which will directly compete with Pandora. This lack of concern comes despite the fact Apple has signed on big time advertisers such as McDonald’s, Pepsi, P&G, and Nissan for iTunes Radio. Oh and the fact iTunes Radio will be pre-installed on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac sold–but Pandora has nothing to worry about, at least that it’s admitting to publicly.
However, despite iTunes Radio, Pandora’s second quarter earnings look pretty good, well at least better than expectations. So maybe Kennedy is right, there’s nothing to worry about it, but back to the earnings! Total revenue increased 58 percent year-over-year to $162 million. The company reported non-GAAP EPS of -$0.04, a $7.8 million net loss. While those numbers are better, they’re still losing money.
Pandora now has 71.2 million users and the company reported 3.88 billion listening hours over the quarter, representing an 18 percent year-over-year increase. That being said, Pandora reported 4.18 billion listening hours last quarter, so in terms of quarter over quarter — not as good. This number may change though due to the fact Pandora is lifting its 40-hour free listening limit on mobile devices, a piece of news that it announced on its earnings call today.
Again, mobile is going to be the crucial part to Pandora’s success long-term and it needs to find a way to start making some profit if it wants to be able to compete with Apple’s upcoming iTunes Radio which will most likely launch alongside the next iPhone and iOS 7 on September 10.
Whatever happens with Pandora and iTunes Radio outgoing Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy won’t have to worry about it once he leaves the company.