Pandora Posts Record Revenue Of $67M In First Quarter As A Public Company

In its first quarter as a public company, music streaming service Pandora posted record revenue in Q2 2012. For the second quarter fiscal year 2012, total revenue was $67 million, a 117% year over year increase. For the second quarter fiscal 2012, on a GAAP basis, the net loss per per share was $(0.04). The non-GAAP net income per fully diluted common share was $0.02.

In terms of net income, Pandora took a loss of $1.8 million for the quarter. But Pandora’s Q2 advertising revenue was $58.3 million, a 118% year over year increase. Subscription and other revenue was $8.7 million, a 112% year over year increase.

The company revealed that total listener hours were approximately 1.8 billion for quarter an increase of 125% compared to approximately 800 million for the same quarter a year ago. Estimated share of total U.S. radio listening at the end of the second fiscal quarter was 3.6%, up from 1.8% a year prior. According to Pandora, the service had 37 million active users in July.

In a release, Joe Kennedy, President & CEO of Pandora said this in a statement: “Pandora is personalizing radio — and consumers are enthusiastically embracing the dramatically better experience…At the same time, advertisers continue their adoption of Pandora’s multi-platform ad solutions, resulting in our 6th consecutive quarter of year-over-year triple digit revenue growth. In addition to continued high growth in web revenue, Pandora’s mobile advertising revenue for the first time comprised approximately half of total advertising revenue as we lead the way in the nascent but fast growing mobile advertising market. Pandora continues to grow our market share of U.S. radio as we fundamentally transform one of the last forms of traditional media.”

On the earnings call, Kennedy said that mobile represents 70 percent of Pandora’s usage. And mobile now accounts for half of the company’s ad revenue. As we reported at the time of Pandora’s IPO, mobile as been a significant contributor to Pandora’s growth as a company.

Another growth area, says Kennedy, is the placement of Pandora in the car. The company already has a number of deals in place, including one with Ford Motor Company.

Kennedy also said that Spotify isn’t really a threat to its business and usage. There’s hasn’t been “any impact from the digital music services launched in the past few months,” asserts Kennedy. “We’re focused on radio.”

Pandora is forecasting Q3 revenue to be in the range of $69.5 million to $72.5 million, (representing year-over-year growth of between 84% and 92%, respectively), and yearly revenue to be in the range of $270 million to $275 million (representing year-over-year growth of between 96% and 100%, respectively).