Pandora releases January audience metrics

Market-leading Internet radio service Pandora released its monthly audience metrics for January today, showing year-over-year growth in its key metrics. As always, Pandora revealed three measurements in the monthly report: Active listeners (a much-scrutinized number that indicates size of audience and allegiance to the brand), Listener hours, and Share of total U.S. radio listening (a sometimes controversial private calculation).

The active listeners number landed at 73.4-million in January 2014, a 12% gain from January 2013. Listener hours increased 13% (to 1.58-billion). Share of total U.S. radio listening was calculated at 8.6%, a year-over-year gain of 7.7%.

The month-over-month movement was flat or downward, after a sharp upward spike in the December report. (Holiday-music listening is a predictable driver of usage.) So, active listeners dropped from 76.2-million to 73.4-million. Listener hours remained flat month-over-month. The controversial share-of-radio metrics was flat from December, also.