Audio4cast

Pandora Launches Video Platform

October 1, 2009 at 8:00 am Jennifer Lane Leave a comment

The fact that Pandora continues to roll out new ad platforms that offer advertisers integrated marketing opportunities is both good for them as well as the Internet radio industry. Last week, Pandora rolled out a new video ad platform, announcing that NBC and Entertainment Arts were the first advertisers. Both advertisers used targeted campaigns to reach their demographic – for NBC it was Women 18 to 34 for new program “Mercy”, while EA targeted Men 18 to 34 for their new Beatles Rock Band game.

“We’re delighted to have partnered with NBC and EA to create an advertising vehicle with the potential to hold sway over Pandora’s target audiences who wield significant influence over friends and families’ purchase behavior and media habits,” said John Trimble, chief revenue officer at Pandora.

NBC’s integrated ad program included video gateways and offered listeners the chance to view a trailer. EA’s program offered a 30 second game demo. Both advertisers’ campaigns included branded radio stations as well.

I tuned in today and saw a video gateway for Vince Vaughn’s new movie “Couples’ Retreat” as I was waiting for my station to load. Thedisplay ads were hard to miss when I was looking at the now playing info. While there was an option to skip the ad, it launched as soon as I chose the station, and was short enough that I wouldn’t need to skip it.

In their typical cautious fashion, Pandora has integrated video ad opportunities into their site to the benefit of advertisers and overall revenue. They’ve been so frank about their royalty struggles over the past few years that their listeners certainly understand their need to monetize, which contributes to their tolerance for the ads. It’s a formula that seems to be working.

Entry filed under: Internet radio, Revenue Strategies, streaming, Uncategorized. Tags: Internet radio, pandora, streaming, video gateways.