Pandora and SoundCloud join ad forces to reach a joint 100m US listeners
Unlikely bedfellows Pandora and SoundCloud have partnered to join the dots on their ad networks and reach a combined 100 million Americans.
Pandora and SoundCloud partner
From 2019, SoundCloud inventory will be sold through audio platform Pandora’s team in an exclusive US advertising and sales deal.
SoundCloud's US ad inventory will be available to purchase through Pandora. This will grant access to SoundCloud’s newly built digital advertising capabilities, data targeting and audio programmatic sales.
With both brands under the same umbrella, Pandora and Soundcloud claim to reach a total of 100 million in the US, with an apparent 13% overlap between users, meaning Soundcloud’s expanded the volume and type of consumers it can deliver ads to.
Kerry Trainor, chief executive officer of SoundCloud, said: “Pandora and SoundCloud’s combined audience offering creates the clear market leader for brands to reach US music fans.
“Through this partnership, we gain access to Pandora’s world-class sales team and capabilities to connect more brands with our young, highly engaged users who know what’s next in music is first on SoundCloud.”
Roger Lynch, chief executive of Pandora, added: “This partnership is a fantastic match between Pandora's industry-leading ability to monetize digital audio and SoundCloud's large audience and vibrant community of US listeners.
"Investments we’ve been making in our ad capabilities, including the recent acquisition of AdsWizz, further solidify Pandora’s commitment to help publishers monetize the rapidly growing digital audio market."
The team at audio ads solution AdsWizz (purchased for $145m in March) will expand its agreement with SoundCloud. The firm hinted that it will be looking to more effectively monetise video inventory in particular in the coming year.
Meanwhile, in the UK, DAX will continue to be SoundCloud's exclusive sales partner, having served in this capacity since 2016.
Ollie Deane, director of commercial digital at Global, said: “Our ambition with SoundCloud is to give advertisers opportunities to align their brand with popular and emerging music loved by millions of listeners on SoundCloud. DAX continues to grow at a phenomenal rate and programmatic advertising is becoming the preferred choice by many advertisers and producers. With a huge music streaming catalogue available on SoundCloud, this renewed partnership enables advertisers to reach new audiences at scale and drive brand awareness.”
Earlier this year, The Drum spoke to SoundCloud chief executive Kerry Trainor about the brand's new emphasis on the creators, uploading and monetising their music on the platform.
