Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews admitted on Wednesday that the digital radio service has seen an impact from Apple’s iTunes Radio launch. That didn’t stop Pandora from turning a $9.0 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2013, but it likely spurred the company’s planned marketing push.
“Now that we are generating gross profits in a way that gives us more investment dollars, we’ll be slightly more aggressive on that [marketing] front,” said CFO Mike Herring during the company’s earnings call.
In an interview, Pandora’s chief revenue officer John Trimble said “we certainly are conceptually talking about how we bring Pandora into the consumer-facing marketing arena, but I don’t think there’s really anything to go into at this point.”
Mr. McAndrews indicated that the marketing will be tied to promoting new product features like an alarm clock mode and station recommendations, which have increased listener hours. Pandora plans to add more, similar services and it will be “spending more in marketing to make sure people are aware of that,” he said.
Read the full story at Pandora to Boost Marketing Budget as Mobile Revenue Climbs | Digital – Advertising Age.
