Even with music streaming becoming more crowded, Pandora has reason to celebrate. The company announced Thursday in its Q2 financial results that it brought in more than $1 billion in revenue over the past 12 months (through June 2015). Variety reports that this is the first time the company has hit that milestone.
In addition to the trailing 12-month period, several metrics show that Pandora had a healthy Q2. According to the music streamer, total revenue and advertising revenue were both up 30 percent year-over-year; mobile revenue grew by 37 percent year-over-year; and local revenue spiked 67 percent year-over-year. Listening hours were at a whopping 5.30 billion, which was a 5 percent increase year-over-year. Moving forward, Pandora expects to bring in $1.175 to $1.185 billion over the course of 2015.
During a conference call about Pandora’s earnings, Business Insider reports that the company was asked about the effect that Apple Music might have on it. Because the new streaming service launched at the very end of June, there was only one day of overlap between the data Pandora shared and the availability of Apple Music to consumers. Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews explained this, saying, “In terms of Apple Music, of course it launched at the end of June, so there was no impact yet.”
Although the companies are now actively competing, McAndrews doesn’t seem to be worried. He highlighted the fact that Pandora is positioned well right now and downplayed the buzz about Apple Music. “With any big launch like this and the noise in the marketplace, there could be some users that experiment with it and there could be some short-term impact,” he said. “But we don’t believe that there will be any long-term impact.”
Pandora’s stock climbed by over 10 percent after-hours in light of the Q2 financial results, so it looks like McAndrews isn’t the only one feeling confident.
