Pandora’s Sponsored Listening launches out of beta: Remove ads by giving brands your full attention

Internet radio company Pandora has launched its Sponsored Listening product for all advertisers.

First opened in beta last September, Sponsored Listening is a reward-based ad product that lets users on the ad-supported “free” service remove ads for an hour by actively engaging with a brand. This could be through watching a short video or clicking to visit a company’s website.

Timed to coincide with the full launch, the product will allow advertisers to create interactive 360-degree product views, in addition to the video ad units and swipeable slide shows that were already available.

Pandora operates in an increasingly competitive space, and the company has recently been testing a number of initiatives to tempt advertisers on board. One of those was Promoted Stations, which saw the likes of Taco Bell and Diageo attach their names to curated stations.

There’s clearly something in this model, as Spotify launched its very own Sponsored Sessions at the same time as Pandora did last year, letting brands offer users “free” uninterrupted listening in exchange for a video view.

Pandora says that its results showed a 12 percent rise in “brand awareness” and a 30 percent increase in “purchase intent” for advertised products during the beta period. Today’s news comes just a few days after Pandora reported ad revenue had risen by more than 30 percent to $231 million in the second quarter, though subscription and other revenues increased too.