Since we launched the Pandora service in 2005, our listeners have created over 1.4 billion stations… Although Pandora has more than a 50% share of all internet radio listening time among the top 20 stations and networks in the United States, according to Ando, we estimate that we represent only 2% of total U.S. radio listening hours.
Fast forward to today. Pandora’s stock price languished for years at less than 1x revenue, annual revenue growth slowed to 3%, annual revenue prior to being acquired was about $1.6bln (Q3 2018 annualized), and annual losses were about -$82mm annualized. In September 2018, SiriusXM acquired Pandora for $3.5bln (~2x revenue). Meanwhile Spotify’s dominance is crystal clear. Below are excerpts from their S1:
We are the largest global music streaming subscription service…. Our Premium Subscribers have grown 46% year-over-year as of December 31, 2017 to 71 million. Our 159 million MAUs have grown 29% year-over-year as of December 31, 2017…. potify’s global streaming market share was approximately 42% in 2016 as determined by revenue, and we had market share of approximately 41%, 42%, and 59% in the U.S., Brazil, and United Kingdom, our three largest markets by MAUs, respectively. In addition, we accounted for greater than 95% of the streaming market in our home country of Sweden. We made up almost half of global revenues from paid streaming to record labels in 2016. Through December 31, 2017, we have paid more than €8 billion in royalties to artists, music labels, and publishers since our launch.
sammy@blossomstreetventures.com
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