Pandora audience up 5% in December; stock up 10% today

Pandora cube canvas 160wMarket-leading Internet radio service Pandora released its monthly audience metrics today, showing substantial growth across the board. Pandora reveals three measurements in the monthly report: Active listeners (a much-scrutinized number sometimes compared to iTunes Radio audience metrics), Listener hours, and Share of total U.S. radio listening (a sometimes controversial private calculation).

pandora stock spike jan6 2014Active listeners in December jumped 5.2% from November to 76.2-million. Holiday-music listening might account for additional actives and time spent with the service. Listening hours grew correspondingly, from 1.49-billion to 1.58-billion, a 6% gain.

Share of U.S. radio listening, which is meant to position Pandora side-by-side with national terrestrial share in a traditional ratings framework that does not include Internet radio, grew nearly 2% in December from the previous month, from 8.44% share to 8.6% share.

As of this post, Pandora stock (NYSE: P) is spiking to the tune of 10% over Friday’s close, bringing its market cap close to $6-billion.

Brad Hill