Pandora's Connected Vehicle Takes Your Ads On The Road

Pandora listeners are highly mobile throughout the day, listening to the platform from their backyard speaker, earbuds, or connected vehicle. When it comes to being on the road, Pandora’s connected vehicle offering  can be your fast lane for moving consumers from awareness to purchase.

A significant chunk of our listeners take the platform on the road with them. Seven in 10 Pandora listeners tune in while in-vehicle. 1 Whether they're grabbing coffee on the way to work, dropping the kids off at school, or hitting the open road for a weekend getaway, these are listeners who are captive, engaged, and ready to hear your message.

We bring together availability on direct IO and programmatic, first-party data, and much more that makes every impression count. Here’s everything to know about connected vehicle on Pandora.

Audio goes where screens can't

Audio's superpower is its ability to go anywhere. It fills kitchens and living rooms, powers morning routines, and sets the soundtrack for every errand and chore. And when it comes to the in-vehicle environment, audio is especially valued for its screenless nature. Drivers can't scroll. They can't browse. But they can listen. And that means no visual clutter getting in the way of your message. 

The auto industry has caught on. Nine in 10 new vehicles sold in the US are connected, meaning they're plugged directly to the internet. 2 As in-car AM/FM listening continues to decrease, SiriusXM, streaming audio, and podcast listening continues to rise. In fact, digital audio listeners spend almost two hours more with all audio than non-digital audio listeners. 3

This shift is creating a massive opportunity for digital audio advertising to reach a captive and engaged audience during daily commutes, road trips, and everything in between.

Get to know Pandora's connected vehicle user

Pandora's connected vehicle reaches a monthly audience of 12M+ listeners—the same as putting your message in front of drivers in over 240K packed cars at once. 4 Nearly half (49%) of SiriusXM Media listeners own a connected car, giving advertisers meaningful scale in this environment. And seven in 10 Pandora listeners tune in while in-vehicle—right when audiences are focused and on the move. 1This isn’t a fleeting opportunity either: Pandora’s connected vehicle listenership grew 12% year over year in 2025 and has shown consistent growth since 2018, driven by loyal listeners who return daily for personalized content. 5 Pandora’s connected vehicle audience combines scale, consistency, and high-attention moments—making it a powerful channel for brands looking to drive impact on the road.

Boost your reach with connected vehicle

With connected vehicle, users can change Pandora stations and log their thumbs directly into the vehicle without touching their smartphone. Ads are served throughout the listening experience, reaching listeners when they're focused on the road and fully tuned in. Brands can pick from multiple ad lengths: :10, :15, and :30s and integrate with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and many more. 

Additionally, powered by Pandora's first-party data, we provide Bluetooth targeting segments to help you find the perfect on-the-go audience and increase your in-car advertising impact. Pick from: 

• Pandora mobile bluetooth in-car listening (real-time)

• In-car listeners (Hispanic or African American targeting also available)

• Pandora connected car users

• Pandora in-car listeners 

• Pandora luxury auto consumers

Pulling rich, in-car listening data allows you to personalize the listening experience and create more relevant, natural ad experiences. By understanding who is listening and how, we can help you deliver tailored messages to specific audiences, like a working professional tuning into Latin music on the way home from work or a parent streaming family-friendly content on their way home from school pickup.

Long drives and road trips create co-listening moments

Co-listening makes connected vehicle advertising especially powerful. It’s one of the hidden benefits of digital audio (and especially in-car advertising). Almost nine in 10 (85%) of connected car listeners say they listen with family. 1 That means your ad isn't reaching one person. It's reaching the whole car.

Co-listening turns single listens into multiple impressions, magnifying the potential audience for your streaming audio ads. When multiple people hear the same message simultaneously, it creates a shared experience that can lead to increased brand awareness and recall. Even better, it can spark a discussion or prompt a recommendation.

If you’re trying to reach co-listening families, find them on Disney, Fam Jams, or Family Road Trip Radio. To reach multicultural, co-listening families, find them on Latin or Afro Latino Architects. And to reach families with specific tastes, find them on Showtunes. 

Drive the message home with these best practices

When building audio creative for connected car listeners, you’ll need to remember a few nuances to help your message resonate without interrupting the driving experience.

Prioritize driver safety

Stay away from CTAs that require an immediate interaction like click-throughs, texts, or calls. If your audience is driving, these actions aren’t realistic. The same goes for sound design—avoid effects that could be mistaken for outside noise, like sirens or horns. 

Personalize your messaging

Next, acknowledge that listeners are in the car and make a nod to them being on the go or commuting. Maybe you’re talking to a busy mom who is decompressing at a red light. Or maybe your target consumer is a dad on carpool duty who’s toggling between Backroads and EDM Hits. Context is everything, and your ad should feel like a natural part of the drive—ultimately helping your message land more effectively. 

Create action with your CTA

Finally, utilize a clear CTA that acknowledges the screen-free environment. Your call to action should be clear, simple, and easy to remember. Whether it's promoting a website, introducing a brand name, or offering up a discount code, your ad's CTA should be designed for a clickless experience. 

Boosting upper- and lower-funnel lifts for an online travel agent

An online travel agent came to us to create a streaming audio campaign, looking to drive lifts in ad recall, brand favorability, purchase intent, and brand attributes. The campaign included advanced targeting capabilities to pinpoint adults between 25 and 54, online travel agency users, parents, and Hispanic travelers. The media mix included connected car, connected home, and mobile audio, showing how connected car can complement a diverse multi-product campaign. 

The results were impressive, with dynamic audio placements boosting mid- and lower-funnel results: 6

• +11-pt lift in brand-specific attribute about booking a trip in the US

• +10-pt lift in brand-specific attribute about the types of accommodations offered

• +8-pt lift in purchase intent

• +7-pt lift in ad recall

Get your message on the open road with SiriusXM Media

Mobility has fundamentally changed how people consume audio, creating new and exciting opportunities for brands. From the morning commute to the family road trip, Pandora reaches engaged, in-car listeners wherever their day takes them.

Ready to bring your message to the road? Let's talk.

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