Fewer-than-expected tune in to Pandora in first quarter

(Reuters) - The number of listeners tuning in to Pandora Media Inc's (P.N) online music streaming service fell short of expectations as the company faces stiff competition from Spotify and Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) Beats.

Shares of Pandora, which streams music by predicting listener's preferences, fell 4.6 pct in extended trading.

The company said the number of active listeners in the first quarter ended March 31 was 79.2 million, with total listener hours of 5.30 billion.

Analysts on average had expected 80.2 million active listeners and 5.41 billion listener hours, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

Subscription revenue fell 3.1 percent to $52.02 million, while revenue from advertising rose about 27 percent to $178.7 million.

Pandora forecast current-quarter revenue of between $280 million and $285 million. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $281.6 million for the period, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Spotify, which is catching up fast with Pandora, said in January it had 15 million subscribers and 60 million active users at the end of 2014.

Pandora's net loss widened to $48.3 million, or 23 cents per share, in the first quarter from $28.9 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company lost 12 cents per share.

Revenue rose to $230.8 million from $194.3 million.

Analysts on average had expected loss of 16 cents per share on revenue of $224.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The Oakland, California-based company's shares closed at $17.71 on the New York stock exchange on Thursday.

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)