You couldn’t blame the folks behind non-Apple streaming music services being worried when Apple Music was announced — but according to Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews, there was nothing to worry about.
Pandora’s Q2 revenue came in better than expected at $285.6 million, largely thanks to solid growth on the advertising side, which increased 30 percent year-over-year.
The company’s local advertising business additionally increased 67 percent.
“In terms of Apple Music, of course it launched at the end of June, so there was no impact yet,” McAndrews said. “Going forward, we feel really good about our trajectory and competitive position. With any big launch like this and the noise in the marketplace, there could be some users that experiment with it and there could be some short term impact… But we don’t believe that there will be any long-term impact.”
The news comes as a second dose of bad news for Apple on the Apple Music front, after well-known Apple blogger Jim Dalrymple slated Cupertino’s streaming music service as “a nightmare.”
Currently, Pandora boasts 79.4 million active listeners, tuning in for a total of 5.3 billion hours.
Will any of this have any bearing on the FTC’s current investigation of Apple for apparent antitrust violations with Apple Music? Almost certainly not.
Source: Business Insider
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
7 responses to “Pandora CEO thinks Apple Music will have no negative impact”
Sounds like the CEO has his head up his you know what. A CEO should never let their guard down. In my circle no one uses Pandora still. They should be worried.
Yea because you’re circle represents the world, sounds more like you got your head up your you know what
It is for sure a good sample size. If I can pull over 100 people and zero use it that says something.
Why should it make a difference now? People will make their decision when Apple Music’s trial ends. Apple Music’s trial period hasn’t even been going a month yet. Pandora’s been around for years. What’s the big deal? Apple isn’t under any real pressure. Apple is still making plenty of revenue and profits without Apple Music.
“In terms of Apple Music, of course it launched at the end of June, so there was no impact yet”
It’s like you guys didn’t even read the damned statement before writing a linkbait article about it. Apple Music launched on the last day of Pandora’s Q2, so yeah, you’re not wrong in saying it made “no impact whatsoever”, just really stupid.
The CEO said that there could be a short term impact but he doesn’t believe that there will be a long term impact. I’m pretty sure Pandora has already felt the impact of Apple Music and that they are “hoping” there won’t be any long term impact. I see his comments as a clear indicator that Apple Music is doing very well.
isn’t that exactly what the blackberry owners said? “yah, that iphone thing will be dead in a matter of months.”
meanwhile, in 2015 …