The two companies reach an ad audience of more than 100M, creating largest digital audio advertising marketplace in the U.S.
SoundCloud, the world’s largest open audio platform, and Pandora (NYSE:P), the largest streaming music service in the United States, today announced that SoundCloud has partnered with Pandora as its exclusive U.S. advertising and sales representation. Launching in 2019, the agreement will enable advertisers and brands to purchase SoundCloud’s U.S. ad inventory directly through Pandora, leveraging the company’s direct sales capabilities, targeting data, and its recently launched audio programmatic product.
Digital audio advertising grew 40% in 2017 to $1.6B according to IAB, and is becoming an increasingly important medium to reach consumers, thanks to the proliferation of voice-enabled apps and devices. Together, SoundCloud and Pandora’s combined U.S. audience offering reaches more than 100M unduplicated listeners -- with 13% audience overlap between the two companies -- making it easier for advertisers and brands to access the largest digital audio advertising marketplace.
“Pandora and SoundCloud’s combined audience offering creates the clear market leader for brands to reach U.S. music fans,” said Kerry Trainor, Chief Executive Officer, SoundCloud. “Through this partnership, we gain access to Pandora’s world-class sales team and capabilities to connect more brands with our young, highly engaged users who know what’s next in music is first on SoundCloud.”
“This partnership is a fantastic match between Pandora's industry-leading ability to monetize digital audio and SoundCloud's large audience and vibrant community of U.S. listeners," said Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Pandora. "Investments we’ve been making in our ad capabilities, including the recent acquisition of AdsWizz, further solidify Pandora’s commitment to help publishers monetize the rapidly growing digital audio market."
The new agreement expands SoundCloud’s existing global relationship with AdsWizz and is part of Pandora’s broader strategy to help publishers monetize digital audio as well as other formats of inventory—including video—more effectively.
SoundCloud is the world’s largest open audio platform, powered by a connected community of creators, listeners and curators on the pulse of what's new, now and next in culture. Founded in 2007, SoundCloud’s mission is to empower the world’s audio creators with the best tools, services and resources to build and grow their careers. With over 180 million tracks and 10 million creators heard each month across 190 countries, what’s next in music is first on SoundCloud.
Pandora is the world’s most powerful music discovery platform – a place where artists find their fans and listeners find music they love. We are driven by a single purpose: unleashing the infinite power of music by connecting artists and fans, whether through earbuds, car speakers, live on stage or anywhere fans want to experience it. Our team of highly trained musicologists analyzes hundreds of attributes for each recording which powers our proprietary Music Genome Project®, delivering billions of hours of personalized music tailored to the tastes of each music listener, full of discovery, making artist/fan connections at an unprecedented scale. Founded by musicians, Pandora empowers artists with valuable data and tools to help grow their careers and connect with their fans.
About SoundCloud
SoundCloud empowers artists and fans to connect and share through music. Founded in 2007, SoundCloud is an artist-first platform empowering artists to build and grow their careers by providing them with the most progressive tools, services, and resources. With over 400+ million tracks from 40+ million artists, the future of music is SoundCloud.