• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 24, 2013

Online radio service Pandora on Thursday reported that revenue rose 55% in the first quarter to $126 million, topping analysts’ expectations.

The company’s net loss widened to $28.6 million, or 16 cents a share, compared to a loss of $20.2 million, or 12 cents a share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the loss was 10 cents a share, in line with the consensus forecast of analysts polled by FactSet.

Pandora’s quarterly revenue -- which had been projected to reach $124 million—was bolstered by the addition of 700,00 net new paid subscribers, bringing the total to more than 2.5 million. Excluding certain items, mobile revenue doubled to $86.7 million. That outpaced mobile listener growth of 47%.

“During the quarter, we successfully implemented a mobile listening limit, enabling us to manage our content acquisition costs with minimal impact on listenership or revenue growth,” stated Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy in the company’s earnings release.

The company imposed a 40 hour-per-month cap on free music streaming on mobile devices in March to help address rising royalty costs.

Pandora’s total listener hours increased 35% to 4.18 billion. The company’s share of total U.S. radio listening in April was 7.3%, up from 5.9% a year ago. Active users reached 70.1 million, up 35% from a year ago.

For the second quarter, Pandora is forecasting revenue in the range of $155 million to $160 million. Adjusted earnings are estimated to range from a loss of 2 cents a share to a profit of a penny a share.

The company’s stock was up about 8% in after-hours trading to $18.50 following the earnings announcement.