Satellite and internet radio metrics show growth

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PandoraSirius XM Radio says it’s benefitting from strong automobile sales to the extent that it is raising it guidance for net subscriber gains for the full year. Meanwhile, Pandora says it’s continuing to grow and grabbed another chunk of the radio audience compared to where it was a year ago.


Sirius issued its Q2 figures, saying it picked up 715K new subs, pushing its total number past 25M and representing a 15% gain over Q2 2012 additions. It also upped its prediction for end-of-the-year gains 100K to 1.5M, and says that the net gain in self-pay subscribers remains on track for a 1.6M total.

“The new subscriber additions in the quarter have helped SiriusXM reach an exciting new milestone that reflects the popularity and reach of SiriusXM programming and services,” said Jim Meyer, CEO, SiriusXM. “The quarterly results bolster SiriusXM’s leadership position in a dynamic audio entertainment marketplace as we continue our trend of strong, profitable growth. Additionally, we are raising 2013 subscriber guidance to 1.5 million net additions based on our record performance in the quarter.”

Meanshile, Pandora said it registered an increase of 17% in listener hours for the month of June to 1.25B, up from 1.08B in June 2012. It claims 7.04% of total US listening, up more than a percent from the 5.98% registered the previous June. Active listeners are said to be up 30% from 54.5M to 71.1M.

RBR-TVBR observation: We can sum up our recommendation for AM and FM radio in three words: Local, local and local. With ever-increasing audio options entering radio’s vehicular turf, compelling local content is something radio can offer that these other services cannot, at least not easily, and at least not yet.

And on the other hand, we note once again that there is nothing preventing radio from competing on the internet and on mobile devices.

We recommend doing both with maximum creativity and vigor.