Pandora finds 10-second ads can yield results

Pandora is exploring new approaches to improving its audio ads. The latest experiment is a shift in the length of ads, investigating whether short spots can still yield positive results with listeners. Brands Orkin, ZipRecruiter, and Subway signed on for this effort.

Based on the early findings from Pandora, ad recall had double-digit increases for both 10-second and 30-second spots. The 30-second length yielded higher ad recall, although the 10-second span did perform particularly well among younger listeners, with the best results for the age 25-34 group. Finally, the 10-second ads equated to higher time spent with the advertiser’s landing page compared with the 30-second ad.

These preliminary results echoed research Pandora conducted with Nielsen that found 8-second ads yielded high recall for listeners in the 13-24 age bracket. In the blog post sharing the current findings, Pandora noted that there was still a need for longer spots, but recommended more flexibility in length to better tailor messages to particular listeners.

“Should you squeeze a 30 second ad into a 10?” the post asks. “Probably not, as there are many variables to consider – but we think your media mix might look different in the years to come.”

Anna Washenko