Pandora Introduces Programmatic Audio Advertising with AdsWizz: What to Know

With 72 million active monthly listeners and 5.6 million consumers subscribing to their paid streaming, Pandora is one of the largest music streaming services in the U.S.

Last week, Pandora announced they’ve officially integrated the recently acquired AdsWizz into their streaming service to offer programmatic audio advertising.

What is the Pandora and AdsWizz integration?

The Pandora/AdsWizz integration gives advertisers the option to market to Pandora’s audience programmatically. With the AdsWizz integration, advertisers can conveniently purchase Pandora audio ad inventory through AdsWizz software. The bidding process for purchasing ads is completely automated.

Brands can purchase ad space based on consumer profiles, so while they can’t target based on time or location, they can target based on potential consumer interest.

Pandora released a beta version of the AdsWizz integration earlier this year. Brands like Gatorade and Sony were first to try out the new programmatic buying system and stated they saw success in the forms of return on ad spend and increased in-store foot traffic.

What does the Pandora and AdsWizz integration mean for the audio advertising marketplace?

“Audio is the fastest growing format in digital advertising, and the marketplace is rapidly evolving,” said Pandora CEO Roger Lynch, according to BusinessWire, but the market has been “in desperate need of scale.” And that’s something this integration can help address with a suite of advertising tools fit to grow the entire market, not just Pandora’s platform.

MediaPost reported that the AdsWizz acquisition and integration takes the lead in the U.S. audio programmatic marketplace, though there is competition as Google announced their audio ads through DoubleClick Bid Manager in May.

Interestingly, Spotify immediately dissolved their partnership with AdsWizz after the Pandora acquisition. Spotify will now rely on their self-service ad platform as well as Rubicon Project and AppNexus.

With 72 million listeners and programmatic ad buying, the Pandora and AdsWizz integration presents a powerful programmatic advertising method that may help connect advertisers and their messages with more of the right audiences.

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About the Author

An experienced serial entrepreneur in mobile and digital marketing, Jonathan Katz’s expertise consists of an extremely proven track record in search, social and programmatic media. Throughout his 20+ year career, he has scaled start-ups and brands across health insurance, government services, automotive, careers, education, consumer finance and politics. As Chief Media Officer for Digital Media Solutions (DMS), Jonathan provides technical direction across the company in areas of marketing automation, product development, machine language learning, architecture and software technology. He leads the team working across the firm’s diverse set of divisions to drive new product innovation and strategic positioning and also oversees customer acquisition teams across all media channels. Always striving to remain innovative, Jonathan is now charting a new path via artificial intelligence marketing in performance media that will revolutionize the industry.

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