Pand ora Media Inc. said its personalized online radio service doubled in size this year, topping 40 million registered users. Of those, some 15 million people visited the Web site each month, said Tim Westergren, Pand ora’s chief executive. Almost all stream the radio content.
The numbers illustrate Pand ora’s challenge to regular broadcast radio’s online programming. Some 22 million people listen to regular radio stations’ streams each week, compared with 15 million for Internet-only stations such as Pand ora, according to Edison Research Inc. and Arbitron Inc.
CC Media Holdings Inc.’s Clear Channel Radio says it has about 8 million listeners who stream its programming each month. CBS Corp. says it has about 9 million people who stream programming from its radio stations. Both companies have millions more site visitors who don’t stream the programming. Unlike Pand ora, CBS and Clear Channel don’t necessarily require users to register. In addition, CBS’s Last.fm site has some 13 million U.S. visitors a month.
Pand ora users customize radio stations to their own tastes. About one-third of its 3 million daily users listen through mobile phones, the company said.