The streaming pure play reached that number with the addition of 784,000 subscribers in Q3, according to a company press release announcing earnings. By comparison, the company buying Pandora, SiriusXM, has 33.7 million paid subscribers. Both advertising revenue and subscription revenue increased in the quarter and the company lost $63.7 million.
Ad revenue was $291.9 million, up 6% from Q3 in 2017. The company says the increase was driven “by record monetization from high sell-through, the launch of new innovative ad formats, and a continued mix shift toward higher CPM advertising products as well as the inclusion of AdsWizz.”
Subscription revenue was $125.8 million, up 49% over 2017, driven by approximately 1.6 million net new subscribers and higher ARPU due to the growth of Pandora Premium.
CEO Roger Lynch said he’s proud of the progress Pandora has made over the past year. “A year ago, we committed to drive listener engagement through product innovation, expand our content, and increase distribution partnerships. We also prioritized making our ad tech capabilities a strategic advantage. And we executed. We launched new products like Premium Access, delivering on-demand functionality and improved listener engagement in our ad-supported tier; forged partnerships with leading brands such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Comcast, and Snap; and solidified our global leadership in digital audio advertising with the acquisition of AdsWizz and the launch of our programmatic audio marketplace.”
The company did not hold an earnings conference call due to the pending merger with SiriusXM. SiriusXM is buying Pandora in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.5 billion.
For the third quarter of 2018, GAAP net loss was $63.7 million or $0.27 per share. This compared to a net loss of $66.2 million or $0.34 per share in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP net loss was $15.5 million, or $0.06 per share. This compared to $15.9 million net loss or $0.06 per share in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $3.9 million, compared to a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
How many does iHeart have? Anyone know?
iHeart only shares “registered user” data which is completely worthless. They never share “active” listener data. Take a look at Triton and you’ll know why. iHearts streaming platform is tiny compared to Spotify and Pandora (and SoundCloud But they don’t subscribe to Triton)