Pandora claims Apple Music will never be a serious threat

Considering how much of a game changer iTunes was for the music industry, it’s no surprise that many music streaming companies were nervous about Apple’s entrance into the market. However, there was a collective sigh of relief from the music streaming industry when Apple Music was released because, despite how much Apple was hyping it up, there wasn’t and still isn’t anything particularly special about the service. Pandora echoed this sentiment in its recent earnings call, with CEO Brian McAndrews saying Apple Music will never be a real threat to Pandora.

Pandora’s stock popped more than 10% after-hours after it beat Q2 revenue expectations thanks to solid advertising growth. The streaming music service’s revenue clocked in at $285.6 million, just over the $283 million expected, though it lost $16.1 million overall. Pandora’s total advertising grew 30% year-over-year, with its local advertising business increasing 67%. The elephant in the room, of course, was the recent launch of a competing music service from tech giant Apple, and analysts on the earnings conference call wasted no time in asking Pandora’s management about the potential impact to its business. According to CEO Brian McAndrews, the threat is overblown. McAndrews said that Pandora has seen no meaningful impact yet, and the company doesn’t expect it long-term, either. “In terms of Apple Music, of course it launched at the end of June, so there was no impact yet,” he said. “Going forward, we feel really good about our trajectory and competitive position. With any big launch like this and the noise in the marketplace, there could be some users that experiment with it and there could be some short term impact… But we don’t believe that there will be any long-term impact.”