Pandora joins growing list of companies pursuing online ticketing (P)

Thomson Reuters

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Music streaming service Pandora is moving into online event ticketing with Ticketfly, which was acquired by Pandora last October for $450 million, reports TechCrunch.

The new feature will recommend concerts on sale from Ticketfly based on the listener's location and their musical tastes through push notifications to their mobile devices. If a Pandora listener "likes" an artist on the platform, they will be sent push notifications when that artist posts a local concert on Ticketfly in their area. Listeners can also set reminders for events, and if tickets are not yet on sale, a notification can be set for when they're available.

This move helps Pandora leverage its newly-acquired service to engage listeners on the Pandora platform and drive up sales for Ticketfly:

• In Pandora's Q2 2016 earnings report, the company reported that total revenue (minus ticketing services) totaled $320 million, a 20% year-over-year (YoY) increase.
• On its own, revenue from ticketing services via Ticketfly reached over $22 million, also a 20% YoY increase.
• Furthermore, listeners are using Pandora more often, with total listener hours totaling over 5 billion, a 7% YoY jump. Notably, the number of active listeners declined slightly in Q2 2016, implying that user engagement has increased since last year.

Pandora faces stiff competition in online ticketing because other tech firms have already ventured into similar partnerships. Last month, Facebook announced that it is testing a new integration with both Eventbrite and Ticketmaster to allow users to purchase event tickets. Users are shown links within Facebook Event pages that allow them to purchase tickets while still on the Facebook platform.

Additionally, rival music streaming service Spotify launched a nearby concerts feature in November in partnership with Songkick. Similar to Pandora's nearby concerts tool, Spotify's feature shows users upcoming concerts in their area based on their listening habits in a dedicated "Concerts" tab.

However, Pandora has a very clear advantage in this space as it owns Ticketfly. For every ticket sold online, Facebook and Spotify have to cut portions of the sale to a partnered company — Pandora doesn't face this problem because Ticketfly is housed under its umbrella. As Pandora and Ticketfly grow together, we expect to see the new concert recommendation tool help breed loyalty among Pandora users and drive up total revenue for the company further.

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