MusicWatch Blog: SiriusXM Is Due More Respect

While most analysts look at the financials, MusicWatch studies the consumer landscape for audio. Using consumer surveys, According to blogger Russ Crupnick, MusicWatch is continually taking the pulse of audio listeners in the United States. From that perspective you would conclude that Sirius is well positioned to grow its subscriber base, and to compete with the big dogs of audio streaming.

Russ Cripnick

"Our research shows a recovery in Sirius listening hours, thanks to people getting back into cars post-COVID, or at least post the worst of COVID. Broadcast radio remains the leading mode of listening in vehicles. Sirius provides an alternative to broadcast radio for its audience, but it is time to stop thinking of satellite radio as just that," according to Crupnick in a post on the RAIN website.

Crupnick writes "conversation about Sirius shifting from a purely satellite based service to a blended option including streaming misses the point. Sirius is already a capable competitor to the major music streaming services. MusicWatch estimated that Sirius has over 60 million listeners, or nearly two listeners for every subscriber. Similar to services such as Spotify or AppleMusic, there is the person who subscribes, and others who share the account- through using the same vehicle, or riding in it. 

"An estimated 25 million stream Sirius using the SXM app. To put that into perspective, the 25 million SXM streamers represent about the same audience who listen to YouTube Music (the paid version with 26 million listeners), Amazon Music Unlimited (25 million), SoundCloud (21 million) and more than Tidal, Napster and Qobuz combined."