Pandora Media Inc. allowed advertisers promote stations on Wednesday in order to boost advertising revenue.
The stations are being made available to almost 10 percent of the Internet radio service's 76 million monthly users, according to Phys.org.
"We are relentlessly focused on advertising solutions that enhance both the listener and the advertiser experience," said Lizzie Widhelm, vice president of digital advertising at Pandora Media.
The company has been investing heavily in advertising as of late to improve its advertising tools, CNET reported.
Brands promoting the stations include Kleenex, Taco Bell, Sketchers, StubHub and Toyota Motor Sales. Pandora said the brands will play the role of executive producers to give their stations a musical personality. Kleenex's station will have country songs by artists like Kelly Pickler and Jason Aldean, and StubHub's station will have songs from Tokyo Police Club, along with interviews.
Pandora said that its listening hours increased by 30 percent in April, compared to the same month last year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"Promoted stations make it easier for listeners to explore the unique content we create with brands and give advertisers the opportunity to extend the reach of their content, as well as the time spent on their brand," Widhelm said.
The company said that the decision marks the first time it has added an ad product to a listener's station list.
The promoted stations will appear in listener's "Stations You Might Like" listing one at a time, CNET reported. Stations won't be targeted to relevant listeners at the beta stage. However, a spokeswoman for Pandora said it is important to provide advertising that is significant to the user and effective for the advertiser.
"As we build out the product it will also integrate with our unique ability to target and segment," she said.
Pandora is looking to have more brands participate and to test the positioning of promoted stations in the station list, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The company added that more listeners will begin to see promoted stations throughout the year.
