Pandora is rolling out in-car ads later this month

You’ve been able to listen to Pandora in your car for a few years now, and soon the internet radio company will be launching ads to play alongside your music. Expected to roll out later this month, the new advertising platform will include both 15- and 30-second ads from the likes of Ford, State Farm, and Taco Bell. “Taco Bell fans are passionate about music,” Taco Bell CMO Chris Brandt says. The feature will be available in the 130 car models that currently include Pandora integration, as well as via the many aftermarket devices that let you access the service in your vehicle.

Pandora first launched the in-car service in 2010 through a partnership with Ford, and the company claims that it currently has an 8.6 percent share of the total US radio listening market — that includes 76.2 million active monthly listeners last month. Unfortunately for Pandora, that growth hasn’t prevented the company from losing money, and it’s clearly hoping that this new advertising service will help move it closer to the black. “We are now seizing the opportunity to connect advertisers with a more targeted audience than traditional radio can provide,” CMO Simon Fleming-Wood says.