Pandora wants time spent as ad-measurement metric

Music streaming service Pandora wants audibility and time spent metrics to be as intrinsic as viewability when it comes to ad measurement. Pandora has signed a deal with digital analytics company Moat to measure viewability within its app and website, but Chris Record, vp of revenue operations, insisted how long someone spent listening to an audio ad would provide as much data. Pandora has promised advertisers they will only pay for ads that meet the standards of both the Media Rating Council and WPP's GroupM.

Viewability, the measurement of how effectively digital ads are actually being seen by humans, has been a buzzy topic the past couple of years. But as more advertising moves to smartphones that rely on consumers also hearing a marketer's message, how many people listen to audio ads? Pandora wants to find out.

First of all, Pandora and digital analytics company Moat have inked a deal to measure viewability within the music-streaming service's app and website that promises advertisers they will only pay for in-view ads that meet the standards of both the Media Rating Council and individual marketers like WPP-owned GroupM, which sets its own, often stricter requirements for publishers and media companies.