Zynga

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Matthew Porter

: By Matt Porter

Zynga Logo [1]

Contact

699 8th Street San Fransisco, California 94103

Facebook: Zynga

Twitter: @Zynga

YouTube: ZyngaNetwork

Key Executives [2]

Mark Pincus: Founder, CPO, Chairman of the Board of Directors [3]

Don Mattrick: CEO [4]

Clive Downie: COO [5]

David Lee: CFO and CAO [6]

About [7]

Zynga Inc. is the world’s leading developer in games for social platforms. Zynga develops games for Facebook, Android, Apple, as well as their site Zynga.com. The company is best known for its franchises FarmVille, Zynga Casino, and Words With Friends. Their games are played by 100 million monthly consumers, and their games have reached over 1 billion people worldwide. However, Zynga has seen a steady decrease in active users since the company’s peak in Q2 2012 as seen in the chart below [8].

Zynga Daily Active Users Since 2009 [8]

Zynga has always stuck with the idea that games should be free and social. The main revenue for Zynga comes from advertisements. While the games are free for users, there is premium in-game content that users can purchase, creating another revenue stream for the company [13].

Zynga founded zynga.org, an organization using the social gaming platform to raise money for charity. The organization uses in-game purchases in games like FarmVille, and has used the proceeds to help with disaster relief in Haiti, Japan, and other countries [14].

History

Zynga Inc. was founded in 2007 by Mark Pincus and six other co-founders who are no longer with the company. Pincus founded the company with one mission: “connecting the world through games” [12]. Pincus founded Presidio Media in April 2007, but in July of 2007, changed the name to Zynga– a name to honor his American bulldog, Zinga [13].

Zynga started out on MySpace, during a time where other ad-based games saw success. Pincus was smart enough to predict that Facebook would be the future, and immediately shifted platforms for his brand new company. In 2007, Zynga released its first game, a free social poker game, for Facebook. In 2008, Zynga released Mafia Wars, a highly successful free-to-play game. Since then, the company has seen success with franchises such as Words With Friends and Farmville [13].

Finance

Zynga Inc. went public in 2011 and saw an early increase in stock value. However, as many of their consumers moved to mobile device, and their online games saw less active users, the value decreased [11]. The company saw a loss of $25.2 million, which is an average of three cents per share. They saw a smaller loss than they did in 2012 however, in which the company lost $48.6 million, or six cents per share. Their sales also dropped in Q4 2013 by 43%, from $311.2 million to $176.4 million [11]. Unfortunately, the financial reports for Q1 2014 will not be released until April 23. However, Zynga’s stock value rose from January to March, and since March 12, has been slowly declining. The value’s peak this quarter was at 5.29 per share on March 12. Currently, it is just over 4.00 per share [9].

Zynga Stock Value Q1 2014 [9]

According to analysts, the reason for this is that Zynga’s main competitor, King Digital, went public in mid-March [10]. King Digital produced the popular game Candy Crush and while their IPO was a dud when they went public on March 26, Zynga stocks were affected by the competitor’s decision to go public.

Acquisition of NaturalMotion

Natural Motion Logo [15]

Zynga acquired NaturalMotion, a United Kingdom-based gaming company, on January 30, 2014. NaturalMotion has developed the games CSR Racing and Clumsy Ninja, among others. The deal involved $391 million dollars and 39.8 million shares in Zynga stock [16].

NaturalMotion co-founder and CEO Torsten Reil e-mailed his staff the day of the acquisition the following: [17]

“We are excited by this opportunity – it allows us to continue on our path whilst fast-tracking important areas such as scalable server infrastructure, live game operations and network cross promotion at scale.”

Kim-Mai Cutler of Tech Crunch believes that the deal was very smart for Zynga and that it will be beneficial because “Zynga gets a good portfolio of current and upcoming games, a character with real franchise potential in Clumsy Ninja, a middleware business and a 260-person gaming company that is culturally focused on quality” [16].

Corporate Structural Change

Mark Vranesh, former Zynga CFO and CAO [18]

Zynga announced on April 10 that its veteran CFO and CAO, Mark Vranesh, would be leaving the company. Vranesh had worked for Zynga for six years, and became the CFO in 2012 [19]. Replacing him was David Lee, the senior vice president for enterprise finance at Best Buy. Lee officially started working on April 14, reporting directly to CEO Don Mattrick. Vranesh will be helping Lee through the end of April to ensure a smooth transition for the company [20]. It is not clear at this time where Vranesh will take his career next.

2014 Title Releases

Riches of Olympus Logo [21]

Riches of Olympus (February 6, 2014)

Developed by the Zynga Casino team, Riches of Olympus is a mobile slot-machine game emulating Las Vegas style and quality. The game is available on the Apple Store, as well as Google Play. According to the official Zynga press release, the game will feature innovative mobile slot mechanics, such as sticky wilds, mega stack symbols, unique reel arrays and burst wilds [22].

Riches of Olympus screenshot [23]

Hit it Rich! Ted (March 13, 2014)

Hit it Rich! Ted screenshot [24]

Hit it Rich! is Zynga’s flagship social slot franchise. The game features addictive gameplay and releases different versions that include characters from popular films, television shows, etc. In March, Zynga released a version of Hit it Rich! feauring Ted, the talking stuffed bear from the popular R-rated comedy [24]. This was an interesting choice of a character, as Ted was released in 2012 and its sequel is not due until 2015.

Hit it Rich! FarmVille (April 10, 2014)

Hit it Rich! FarmVille 2 screenshot [25]

Hit it Rich! FarmVille follows the same philosophy of the previously mentioned Ted edition, however this edition of the popular Zynga game promotes their own brand. This title was released just a week before the FarmVille 2 mobile game. Together the two franchises had reached 750 million users, so it was a logical step to combine the two [25].

FarmVille 2: Country Escape (April 17, 2014)

FarmVille 2: Country Escape on iPad [26]

Zynga released FarmVille 2: Country Escape, the first mobile-entry in the popular FarmVille franchise. The game was built from the ground up for the mobile experience, with touch controls designed to ease the use of planting crops and interacting with animals. Users manage their own farms, can visit their friends’ farms, and send crops and animals to connected users. For the first time the series’ history, users can play the game without an internet connection. The title is available on the Apple Store and Google Play [26].

Watch the trailer for FarmVille 2: Country Escape

Celebrations

Words With Friends turns five. [27]

2014 marked the fifth year anniversary for the popular Zynga title, Words With Friends. Since its conception in 2009, the title has had as many as 55 million matches going on in a single moment [27]. This game is essentially a social version of Scrabble, allowing players to connect around the world and take turns earning points for placing words on a virtual board. FarmVille will turn five this year as well [28]. The company has been celebrating the birthday now that the latest FarmVille title has released. In addition to the milestone of their titles, Zynga has made history of its own. Edwin M. Lee, Mayor of the City and County of San Fransisco named April 18, “Zynga Day” [28].

The Future

Under CEO Don Mattrick, who formally worked with Microsoft and Xbox, it is clear that Zynga is refocusing on the games that make the company unique. The acquisition of NaturalMotion was a smart move to help strengthen their game catalog, and hopefully this and the corporate restructuring can boost them over their competitors.

Sources

[1] Zynga Logo Image

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/11/1112_most_intriguing_companies/image/020_zynga.jpg

[2] Zynga Leadership Team Members

http://company.zynga.com/about/leadership-team/zynga-leadership-team

[3] Mark Pincus Photo

http://i.forbesimg.com/media/lists/people/mark-pincus_416x416.jpg

[4] Don Mattrick Photo

http://cdn2.independent.ie/business/article29286054.ece/d6e7a/ALTERNATES/h342/FIN_20130522_BBW_041_27682355_I1.JPG

[5] Clive Downie Photo

http://i0.wp.com/allthingsd.com/files/2013/10/Clive-Downie_1-319×480.jpg?resize=319%2C480

[6] David Lee Photo

http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/david-lee_zynga-cfo_final-headshot.jpg

[7] About Zynga

http://company.zynga.com/about

[8] Zynga Daily Active Users

http://www.statista.com/statistics/193422/daily-active-users-of-zynga-since-2009/

[9] Zynga Inc. Stock Chart

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=ZNGA+Interactive#symbol=ZNGA;range=3m

[10] Why King Digital’s IPO will hurt Zynga

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12541345/1/why-zynga-znga-is-tumbling-on-monday.html

[11] Zynga Names David Lee Financial Chief

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579493833027723694

[12] Zynga’s Story

http://company.zynga.com/about/our-story

[13] Zynga History

http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/12/zynga-history/

[14] History of Zynga.org

http://zynga.org/about/history/

[15] Natural Motion Logo

http://wwwtemp.naturalmotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/NM-Games-Logo1.png

[16] Zynga Buys NaturalMotion

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/zynga-naturalmotion/

[17] NaturalMotion Company E-mail Update

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/01/30/naturalmotion-update/

[18] Mark Vranesh photo

http://socialtimes.com/files/2012/11/mark-vranesh.jpg

[19] Zynga names David Lee new CFO

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/04/10/zynga-names-david-lee-new-cfo/

[20] Zynga CFO Mark Vranesh Will Leave the Company Next Month

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/215261/Zynga_CFO_Mark_Vranesh_will_leave_the_company_next_month.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+(Gamasutra+News)

[21] Riches of Olympus logo

http://zlive-s3-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/5002520-5da29e3bf3-450×215.png

[22] Zynga Casino Launches Riches of Olympus

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/02/06/zynga-casino-launches-riches-of-olympus/

[23] Riches of Olympus Screenshot

https://lh4.ggpht.com/_hsuF92FBC8h6bHuwkJq32E2IVyQJ4jNjoqn7n9TWNKo2cgQZmKrCdVBUSk0PiAVdw=h900

[24] Hit it Rich! Ted Edition

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/03/13/ted-joins-zyngas-hit-it-rich-slots/

[25] Hit it Rich! FarmVille 2 edition

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/04/10/rake-in-the-social-casino-dough-with-farmville-2-slots-in-hit-it-rich/

[26] FarmVille 2: Country Escape Press Release

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/04/17/farmville2countryescape/

[27] Five Years of Words With Friends

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/01/24/words-with-friends-celebrates-f-i-v-e-years-of-word-play/

[28] Zynga Day

http://blog.zynga.com/2014/04/18/zyngaday/

Spotify

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Hannah Friedland

By Hannah D Friedland

[1] Spotify’s Logo

THE SPOTIFY STORY:

[6] The most updated visuals of the Spotify application on thee platforms

[2] The most updated visuals of the Spotify application on thee platforms. Users have an on-demand stream of music on their computer, mobile device, tablet, and home entertainment system.

Spotify is a music streaming service that puts users in control of 20 million licensed songs [3]. Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008 and came to America in 2011.

Spotify is financially a private company that offers over 20,000 new songs each day from major and independent labels including EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal, & The Orchard [3]. Artists earn royalty when their music is played, and there are over 24 million active users currently in 55 markets [3].

There are two revenue streams, free, which is “powered by advertisers” and premium for $9.99 monthly with extra features including no ads, offline, and high-quality audio [3].

TEAM SPOTIFY:

[2] Spotify Founders- Daniel Ek & Martin Lorentzon

[4] Spotify Founders- Daniel Ek & Martin Lorentzon

[5] Chief Sales, Marketing, and International Growth Officer- Jeff Levick

[5] Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA- Ken Parks

[6] Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA- Ken Parks

[7] Head of Content- Steve Savoca

INSIDE SPOTIFY:

Social Media Merges with Music- Songs, playlists, and albums can be shared on the Spotify application through the "Send To" message option, or users can "post to feed" to their Facebook timeline, Twitter, and Tumblr within the Spotify application. ARROW

Social Media Merges with Music- Using the “send to”, or “post to feed” options users can message music to friends and post music to their Facebook timeline, Twitter, and Tumblr within the Spotify application. Source: Spotify

Spotify gives its users the option to connect with their social media Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts. Users can create collaborative playlists, share music, view friends music and more which provides for ample music discovery and publicity for the company on social media platforms. There is also a private session users can activate.

Two other elements that Spotify includes are apps and Discover. While these apps add dimension to the Spotify journey, Discover is essentially a constantly updated news feed.

Discover- Spotify's "news feed" feature on the desktop application, artists are recommended, concerts nearby are posted, friends listening habits are shown all based on listening habits the user has shown. Source: Spotify

Discover- Spotify’s “news feed” feature on the desktop application. Updates with releases, playlists, artists recommendations, concerts nearby are posted, friends listening habits are shown all based on listening habits the user has shown. Source: Spotify

COMPETITORS:

Spotify is a strong contender, but it’s competing neck and neck with Rdio, Pandora, Rhapsody, Google Play Music, and Beats on price, catalogue, platforms, and features [8]. Beats Music entered the competitive on-demand music market in January [9], and is Spotify’s biggest challenger.

[10] Beats Music vs. Spotify- The two streaming services are extremely similar with the same catalogue size, the discovery element, and price.

Beats entry in the market put Spotify in “go-mode”.

SPOTIFY’S SITUATION:

Competitor streaming services are continually emerging. With more choices presented to consumers, Spotify has responded by shifting their focus to partnerships, acquisitions, customer satisfaction, and updated product development. The formula is to attract users to Spotify, engage with users, and retain them.

Partnerships

Last.fm

Last.fm is a music recommendation service. In January, Spotify and Last.fm teamed up to bring a beneficial on-demand playbar to Last.fm’s website. This makes it possible for Last.fm users to internally play the entire Spotify catalogue on Last.fm’s website [11].

The collaboration works in both companies favor. Last.fm users have a fuller experience with the power, “to play whatever you want by whoever you want directly on Last.fm” [12]. In addition, Spotify’s catalogue incorporation provides a huge presence and Last.fm users conveniently have motivation to signup for Spotify to take advantage of the essential music player.

The Last.Fm Spotify playbar at the bottom of Last.Fm’s website. Source: Lastfm.com

SoundHound

Spotify also joined forces with SoundHound for the “Add to spotify” feature on its iOS application in February. SoundHound is a popular music-recognition app, similar to Shazam. Banded together, SoundHound is now more interactive. After linking accounts, with the tap of a button users can automatically generate Spotify playlists of recognized songs without leaving SoundHound’s app [13].

Hitting the “Add to Spotify” button automatically turns songs discovered on SoundHound into a Spotify playlist. Source: SoundHound & Spotify

The mutually-beneficial relationship brings life to identified songs through Spotify playlists on SoundHoud, and the incentive to use the button will drive users to subscribe to Spotify while giving them presence on a music app [14].

Coachella

On top of that, Spotify was presented with an amazing opportunity to have presence on site at Coachella as the Official Digital Music Partner of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California in April. The Spotify Social tent was an on-site air-conditioned tent that offered relaxation pods, chargers, a “Mosaic Photo Booth” that uses your Spotify account to generate a picture out of your most played album art, and art from artist Apex [15].

[16] The Spotify Social tent, that capped at 150, gave people an air conditioning experience filled with music, more battery power, art, and a Mosaic Photobooth that puts your face on album covers based on your Spotify listening habits.

#WeWereThere was Spotify’s digital interactive strategy at Coachella to “connect, collect, share.” Implanted in every RFID wristband was the power to capture the experience by checking in and collecting custom Spotify curated playlists. The “My Coachella Story” digital snapshot let individuals create memories of their festival concert experiences with playlists gathered [16]. This collaboration not only transformed Coachella goers into premium users, but also created a special experience and built relationships by reliving the festival on Spotify.

[15] “My Coachella Story”- an example of a digital snapshot that shoes distance traveled, the path taken, playlists, artists seen etc. To participate users needed to simply connect their wrist band with their Spotify accounts, look for check ins at the festival, use the wristband to collect playlists and then after generate their digital card and share it with family and friends.

Sprint

Lastly, Beats launched with an AT&T package family plan deal. Rumors are circulating about Spotify planning to bundle with the #3 U.S. mobile carrier, Sprint [17] in April. This partnership will give Sprint customers a free trial. Customers will be able to pay for Spotify directly through their Sprint Accounts, which will help Spotify secure a greater market share and Sprint secure more data plans. Sprint and Spotify will announce the details on April 29th at a New York Event [18].

Acquisitions

In efforts to boost the “discovery” element, Spotify acquired The Echo Nest in March [19]. The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company that examines listening behavior and makes musical recommendations. Spotify paid $100 Million, with 90% Spotify equity [20]. The Echo Nest previously powered Rdio and Rhapsody, both of which ended their deals, deeming its technology invaluable to their operations right after Spotify acquired [21]. This potentially puts Spotify in the position to take The Echo Nest away from competitors.

Combing the two companies gives The Echo Nest a bigger audience and catalog, while Spotify, now with music-discovery data, will improve recommendation’s.

Customer Satisfaction

With intentions to obtain more paying users Spotify has updated its business model. In January the company announced free music shuffling on iOS with a catch, non-premium users ads play in between every few tracks [22]. In February, Spotify added the “repeat one” feature [23]. Repeat one grants users the option to repeat a single track over and over [24]. These highly requested changes illustrate that Spotify cares about users.

Working with a college students budget, Spotify slashed the premium $9.99 monthly rate to $4.99 in March [25]. They partnered with SheerID to validate eligibility. This price change is valuable because college students represent an important key demographic in streaming use [26]. This differentiates Spotify from other streaming services like Rdio and Beats that charge $10 monthly.

Unique Product Development

Competition among streaming services leads Spotify to completely redesign its user interface layout on all platforms. Spotify rolled out a sleek modernized look on April 2^nd. This major design update was the first since its launch in 2008, and to keep current it was a smart move [27].

Spotify’s New Look Video [28]

The new dramatic, dark color scheme highlights important buttons, includes circular images for people, and features square album shapes [29]. The browse tab is revised and categorized between top lists, releases, news, and moods. “Your Music”, a collection of users saved albums, songs, and artists is a new addition [30]. The Your Music addition mimics iTunes library and it is comparable to Rdio’s “collection” feature. It helps users save, organize, and browse through their favorite music. The new layout feels unified and balanced, and should attract new users [31].

WHATS NEXT FOR SPOTIFY:

Spotify is headed in the right direction, but with downloads declining, new rival services like YouTube, Apple, and Amazon that have huge user bases are joining the streaming market [32].

Being active puts Spotify in the forefront, which looks great for Investors. It is rumored that an IPO is in Spotify’s near future. Though the company has declined all comments, a job advertisement for an “External Reporting Specialist” has been posted on their website and LinkedIn [33]. Their future looks competitive but successful.

Sources:

1. Spotify’s Logo 2014, Spotifypress.com, RT: 4/04/2014

2. Spotify’s Application on Three Platforms, Spotifyblog.com, RT: 4/01/2014

3. Spotify Press Fast Facts, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

4.The Founders of Spotify, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

5.Spotify’s Chief Sales, Marketing, and International Growth Officer, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

6. Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA,Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

7. Head of Content, Press.Spotify.com, RT: 4/01/2014

8. “And The Winner Is… Best Music On-Demand Streaming Service”, Cultofmac.com, 2/18/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

9. “Beats Music Is Here”, Beats Music Blog 1/16/2014, RT: 4/08/2014

10. “Beats Music vs. Spotify: Can Dr. Dre outmix the king of streaming”, Digital Trends, 1/27/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

11. “Last.fm Bands up with Spotify to offer on-demand tracks”, CNET, 1/29/2014, RT: 4/04/2014

12. “Did Someone Say On Demand?”, Last.fm Blog, 1/29/2014, RT: 4/04/2014

13. “SoundHound Launched “Add to Spotify”, Business Wire, 2/21/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

14. “SoundHound Now Lets You Easily Add Your Discovered Music to Your Spotify Playlist”, appdevice.com, 2/24/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

15. “Coachella here we come” Spotify News, 4/7/2014 RT: 4/14/2014

16. “Spotify’s Coachella #WeWereThere Campaign: High Tech and Sweet, Sweet Air Conditioning”, Billboard, 4/11/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

17. “Sprint and Spotify Plan to Partner Up”, recode.net, 4/11/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

18. “Spotify, Sprint Plan Music Bundle To Be Unveiled This Month”, Billboard, 4/12/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

19.“Spotify Acquires the Echo Nest”, Billboard, 3/06/2014, RT: 4/02/2014

20. “Spotify Acquired Music Tech Company The Echo Nest in A $100M Deal” , TechCrunch, 3/07/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

21. “Rhapsody Kills its Echo Nest partnership following Spotify acquisition”, Venturebeat.com, 3/21/2014, RT: 4/09/2014

22. “Spotify’s free shuffle mode arrives on iPhone”, The Verge,1/08/2014, RT: 4/02/2014

23. “Repeat One”, Spotify News Blog, 2/07/2014, RT: 4/08/2014

24. “Spotify users can now repeat the same song over and over and over again”, Hypbot, 2/10/2014, : 4/02/2014

25. “Spotify Offers 50% Student Discount”, Hypbot, 3/25/2014, RT: 4/02/2014

26. “Spotify introduces 50% discount for college students”, Los Angles Times, 3/25/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

27. “The Good, The Bad, The Less Ugly: Taking Spotify’s New Redesign For a Test Drive”, Billboard, 4/03/2014, RT: 4/04/2014

28. Spotify Paints It Black with New Look, YouTube, 4/01/2014, RT: 4/06/2014

29. “Spotify’s biggest redesign ever brings long awaited Collection view”, The Verge, 4/02/2014, RT: 4/07/2014

30. “Spotify paints it black with new look”, Spotify News, 4/02/2014, RT: 4/08/2014

31. “Spotify beautifies”, CNET, 4/02/2014 RT: 4/08/2014

32. “Spotify faces challenge from Internet giants before IPO” New York Post, 3/30/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

33. “Spotify seeks to hire U.S. filings expert as bankers eye IPO” Reuters, 2/17/2014, RT: 4/14/2014

Pandora

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Jamie Neukrug

By Jamie Neukrug

The Pandora Media Inc. Logo [1]

Pandora Media Inc.

2101 Webster Street
16th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone Number: (510) 451 4100
URL: http://www.pandora.com
Twitter Handle: pandora_radio

Key Executives

la-et-ct-pandora-brian-mcandrews-ceo-20130911-001 [2] Brian McAndrews–CEO, President, & Chairman

tim-westergren [3]Tim Westergren–Chief Strategy Officer,Founder

PANDORA RADIO/BUSINESS [4] Tom Conrad–Chief Technology Officer

Unknown [5] Mike Herring–Chief Financial Officer

Pandora Radio [6]

A Brief History

In January 2000, Tim Westergren founded a company called Savage Beast Technologies, based on his idea to develop a music genome. This technology was used to develop playlists based on individual consumer preferences. Westergren originally marketed these music recommendation service businesses without much success. In 2004, he shifted his target audiences from businesses to individual users and changed the name to Pandora. Listenership increased sharply. A 2007 ruling on increased royalty prices threatened to ruin Pandora, but the issue was resolved in 2009. The introduction of the iPhone app that allowed people to stream music was a game changer. [7]

Financial Information

Pandora earns the majority of its revenue (87%, 87%, and 88% in the last three years) through computer and mobile based advertising sales. The company offers a free subscription plan which generates revenue through these advertisements, as well as Pandora One, which offers a commercial free option to subscribers for a fee. The ability to reach audiences through mobile and other “on-the-go” devices has increased profits significantly. Total revenue has grown from $137.8 million in 2011 to $427.1 million in 2013. Pandora Media Inc.’s common stock on the NASDAQ market, NYSE, is currently valued at $28.45, a 1.01% decrease from its previous close, as it continues to fluctuate. Based on the latest report, Pandora has over 70% share of internet radio within the top 20 stations in the United States. [8]

The Numbers [8]

Year	Total Revenue (in millions):	Listener Hours (in billions):	Active Users (in millions):
2011	$137,800	3.83	29.3
2012	$274,340	8.23	47.6
2013	$427,145	14.01	65.6

About Pandora

Pandora’s Business Model [9]

By allowing its subscribers to dictate the type of songs and comedy they want to hear, Pandora has become internet radio’s market leader in the United States. Listener playlists are developed based on their feedback from a library of songs that have been categorized based on hundreds of musical qualities. Since its inception, Pandora has grown to have 200,000,000 registered users, over 1,000,000 songs in its collection, over 4 billion stations created, and has expanded internationally to Australia and New Zealand. Listeners can mix up to 100 stations, customizing them to their liking. They can also create profiles and connect with others based on mutual preferences. In addition to computers, Pandora has expanded to mobile “apps” on smartphones such as Blackberry, Android, the iPhone, and other interactive devices including the Android tablets, iPad, and Amazon Kindle Fire, and the Nook. Pandora made deals with car companies, including BMW and Buick, and can now be accessed in vehicles. [10] [11]

chart-of-the-day-internet-only-audio-providers-june-2010

Pandora Media vs. Other Internet Audio Providers [12]

The Music Genome Project sets Pandora apart from competition. [13]

The Music Genome Project®

Pandora’s executive team recognizes the need to accommodate the individual musical tastes of subscribers. The Music Genome Project® is the most intricate system ever created to choose music based on its characteristics. Trained musicologists thoroughly analyze songs based on attributes such as voice, tone, genre, and rhythm. The library includes everything from the week’s Top 40 to classic hits from past decades. The project is often compared to human DNA because every detail is diverse. Musicologists utilize the data stored in the Music Genome Project® to create a satisfying, unique listening experience for all. [14]

Celine Dion performed in NYC in October. [15]

Pandora Presents

“Pandora Presents” is Pandora’s series of live concerts that allow listeners to connect with their favorite artists. Originating in 2012, these performances continue to be a successful display of user appreciation and set Pandora apart from competition. Pandora employees personalize it further by using listenership they have identified for specific artists to invite certain users to attend the show. [16]

During a recent October concert in Los Angeles, recording artist, Bridgit Mendler, mentioned Pandora’s role in helping to develop her fan base. [17] Celine Dion performed in New York City on October 29, 2013, promoting her new album “Loved Me Back to Life.” Past entertainers include Dr. Dog, Walk the Moon, Theophilus London, and other emerging artists.

[18]

Recent News

Pandora Media vs. iTunes Radio

Pandora vs. iTunes Radio [19]

With Apple Inc.’s recent release of its new service, iTunes radio, Pandora’s competition continues to grow. Like Pandora, it creates playlists based on the music the listeners’ choose. It also features the same service options, one with advertisements and commercial free iTunes Match. iTunes Radio allows users to view their entire history and categorize songs by “Hits,” “Variety,” and “Discovery.” [19] Both services allow users to post to Twitter or Facebook, but while Pandora posts both song and station, iTunes only provides the latter. Apple hopes their loyal 575 million iTunes users will convert to iTunes Radio.

Despite the fact that this new application is just as technologically advanced, Mike Herring, Pandora’s Chief Financial Officer, stated that listening hours grew 9% since last month. Pandora’s market share rose to 8.06% in October 2013 from 7.77% in September, when iTunes Radio was first released. [20]

Other Competition: Pandora Media Inc. also competes with broadcast radio providers including Clear Channel, CBS and Sirius XM, a satellite radio provider. Additional rivals include online radio providers such as CBS’s Last.fm, Slacker Personal Radio, and Clear Channel’s iheartradio and interactive media stations RDIO, Apple’s iTunes Music Store, Spotify, Rhapsody, and Amazon. [8]

Pandora Mobile [22]

Pandora Removes 40-Hour-Per-Month Limit: Pandora has removed its 40-hour-per-month limit on free mobile listening, allowing people unlimited time to use the service. Pandora was able to make this change due to its success in mobile revenue advertising, trailing only Google and Facebook. The limit was placed in March 2013 to control royalty costs, but management eliminated it to stay on top of their competition. [21]

iPad Redesign: On September 18, 2013, Pandora released the Pandora 5.0 for the iPad. This was the greatest redesign of the app since its launch in April 2010. The iPad’s large screen and touch capability allows users to easily navigate and search their favorite music. This update was made for Android tablets as well. Pandora 5.0 features more intricate music discovery and exploration, a personal music profile and newsfeed, and the ability to connect and share music with friends. [23] [24]

Pandora 5.0 on Android Tablets [24]

Pandora on Google Chromecast: Pandora is also now available on Google Chromecast, a TV-connected device that delivers audio and video signals wirelessly to any screen in your home. Chromecast consumers can now use Pandora with the click of their smartphone or tablet. Once the music is sent to the television, the device is no longer needed for the music to continue. The Play, Pause, Thumb, and Skip buttons are still managed through the mobile device used. Listeners can customize the music they choose with Google Play or the App Store. [25] [26]

Sources:

[1] Dayandadream.com: Pandora Media Inc. Logo

[2] LA Times: Brian McAndrews Image

[3] Business Innovation Factory: Tim Westergren Image

[4] Mercury News: Tom Conrad Image

[5] Apple Insider: Mike Herring Image

[6] Pandoraradioformac.org Internet Radio Image Source

[7] NY Times Article History of Pandora

[8] Pandora’s Financial Information (Annual Report/Form 10-K)

[9] Bizibly.wordpress.com: Pandora Business Model Image Source

[10] Pandora.com: About Pandora Media Inc.

[11] Pandora.com/mobile: Pandora Going Mobile