Internet radio provider Pandora has gained a lot of listeners via their iPhone app, but they’re increasingly taking aim at commuters. The company has hired George Lynch (not the Dokken guitar player) as the VP of automotive business development. Lynch was last at SiriusXM, where he was VP of automotive partnerships.
The company had already announced in-dash radios that are set to roll out this month, as well as a partnership with Ford to allow listeners to access their stations via Ford Sync, but this shows even more of a commitment to make the service a household name. 50% of all radio listening takes place in a car, and being able to listen to a commercial-free channel you program will undoubtedly cut into terrestrial radio listenership, much the way satellite radio and iPods have. When you consider that nine out of ten workers commute to work, Pandora stands to gain countless new listeners.
