Pandora currently has 43 million registered users, says Om Malik, and 15 million monthly visitors. That compares to CBS Radio, which has about nine million listeners who stream its programming monthly, and Clear Channel, which has eight million listeners tune in online.
Pandora is an automated Internet radio service that lets users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar.
Currently the web accounts for 20 percent of total radio listening, says GigOm, who says Pandora needs to expand beyond just the browser. Pandora is already on nearly 100 different consumer devices.
Pandora’s mobile application stream to the iPhone or iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm Pre devices using either their cell phone provider’s network or WiFi. In just 18 months, mobile and other connected devices have risen to account for nearly 30 percent of Pandora’s usage. That’s helped the company offer premium services, which has in turn helped it generate revenues and lately, profits.
In December 2009 alone, 3 million new listeners joined Pandora — of which 2.7 million of them activated the service on a device other than a computer, according to the company. Ford, Alpine and Pioneer are putting Pandora inside cars.
A long-feared, potential threat to Sirius XM Radio has become real, says The Street. They wonder whether the satellite radio company has reached the beginning of its end.
Sirius/XM had roughly 18 million subscribers as of December, compared to Pandora which had over 40 million. Sirius currently offers various subscription packages ranging from about $13 to $20 a month.
Pandora is free. Of course, that doesn’t count the $60/month you’d have to pay for mobile connectivity. Or any overage fees.
Of course, one broadcast television channel could also deliver hundreds of HD radio streams at 128Kbps, several hundred genre channels, and dozens of mobile video channels.
Too bad the NAB is clueless. They’ll kill it off. Your newspapers and magazines, too.
source : dailywireless.org
No comments:
Post a Comment