September Ratings?

[TheBigA]

While the streaming model does not work for pureplays, adapting Pandora to the XM model would be profitable. What they are buying is a brand and a huge customer base.

I get that...it just hasn't paid off yet.

 

[gr8oldies]

We seem to be a long way from coast-to-coast, uninterrupted streaming. My travels have taken me to places where I can't get enough signal to listen to a podcast, and I'm talking cities like Little Rock with AT&T. I can see SiriusXM wanting to get off the satellite but its going to be awhile.

Sirius knows that the shelf life of poorer quality satellite delivered radio is coming to an end.

New dashboard options are based on streaming, and the rollout of 5g is the final act of satellite.

XM wants access to homes and offices and portable use; mobile devices using streaming do this. 5g will do it better.

The problem for XM is that, as consumers, we want to have one preferred paid audio source we can use in the car, while working out, at work and in the home. Right now, XM is really only available in one platform; Pandora gives a huge consumer base to XM for its transformation into a streaming company.

And streaming obviates a future cycle of satellite replacements at several hundred million a pop.

 

[CTListener]

We seem to be a long way from coast-to-coast, uninterrupted streaming. My travels have taken me to places where I can't get enough signal to listen to a podcast, and I'm talking cities like Little Rock with AT&T. I can see SiriusXM wanting to get off the satellite but its going to be awhile.

There are also places where, in all likelihood, there will never be streaming at all -- sparsely populated or unpopulated areas, especially in rugged terrain -- because the government can't order our telecomms to bring service to those areas. All the telecomms are for-profit corporations and they will decide whether there's any money to be made by doings and will conclude that there isn't. If the area is too mountainous or the few people inhabiting it are too poor, state-of-the-art wireless streaming just ain't never happening, no way, nohow.

SiriusXM's problem with all this is that over-the-road truckers make up a nice chunk of its business, and they drive through such areas every day of the year. They are going to find some other way to stay entertained on the road if SXM shuts down the satellite service. Then you have the vacationers. Maybe they won't cancel, because they only go to their favorite out-of-the-way spot in the mountains once or twice a year, but they'll certainly be annoyed. The company is going to have to think long and hard about getting off the satellites if something doesn't change drastically, especially as the current "birds" reach the end of their useful lives.

 

[MarkW]

Sirius knows that the shelf life of poorer quality satellite delivered radio is coming to an end.

New dashboard options are based on streaming, and the rollout of 5g is the final act of satellite.

I'm strongly inclined to agree, although 5G will not kill satellite right away. Plenty of car owners with in-dash receivers will continue to use the "old fashioned" way of listening to satellite radio for as long as possible. Also, that method of content delivery will be a no-go for any vehicle that lacks a touch screen. Until the vast majority of those cars come off the road, the satellite method of delivery will still have utility. We're probably still a decade away from seeing the birds deactivated.

XM wants access to homes and offices and portable use; mobile devices using streaming do this. 5g will do it better.

Sirius XM - although flat footed with app roll-out and app accessibility - has done a much better job in that area over the past couple years. You are wrong to suggest "it is really only available in one platform." Roku, many smart TV brands (LG, Samsung, others), and smart speakers now offer access to the full SXM line-up (you need to be a subscriber, of course). And of course, Dish Network has offered some SXM programming for a long time.

The Sirius XM smart phone app is now fully compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, too.

I think Sirius XM brand awareness is already pretty darn good. App development was progressing nicely even before the acquisition of Pandora. Pandora will only expand SXM's reach if & when the service finds a way to integrate its offerings into the Pandora platform. So far, they haven't done a very good job of that.

What they are buying is a brand and a huge customer base.

It's not worth anything close to the $3.5B they paid, though. BTW, Pandora is facing stiff competition from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Google Play Music and others. The ice cube is slowly melting, so to speak. Pandora's brand equity is diminishing.

Well I'm a shareholder, and actually the stock is holding up fairly well. In fact it's near a 52 week high. But I was not a fan of buying Pandora because there's no money in streaming. Sirius feels they can negotiate a better deal with the labels now by combining the two companies. I don't think they can.

The acquisition was announced 13 months ago. I was a shareholder in 2018. That acquisition announcement wiped out most of my gains and the share price still is about 15% below its all-time high from June 2018. Compared to twelve months ago, the share price is nearly the same.

I do more-or-less agree with your other comments in the quote I excerpted, though!

 

[TheBigA]

The acquisition was announced 13 months ago. I was a shareholder in 2018. That acquisition announcement wiped out most of my gains and the share price still is about 15% below its all-time high from June 2018. Compared to twelve months ago, the share price is nearly the same.

Had you bought when it was a penny stock (just a few years ago) you'd think differently. It's rare that any media stock rebounds as this one has.

 

[LegalTender]

Anyone care to evaluate Radio.com and TuneIn business models?

I almost never take a trip that doesn't utilize one or both internet radio platforms. Surprisingly, they're not data hogs. Local Atlanta ads populate breaks on stations three time zones away. "Hi this is Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans..." buzz kills every 12 minutes. On MLB games, "let's pause 10 seconds for station identification" is followed by 10 seconds of silence. TuneIn now apparently uses a network feed, not a station stream. The synergies seem boundless.

 

[acheron1982]

Traveled to Alpena Michigan last week. Flew in to Detroit and took a 4 hour drive north in a rental. About 2 hours into the drive, I got off interstate 75 and was in a relatively desolate area and lost cell signal. Occasionally, I would get some bars but not long enough for an average two or three songs to complete on the station I was streaming on tune-in. Next time I take a trip, I will check the route and if it’s off the main highway and/or ina desolate part of the state or country, I’ll fork out the extra bucks for SXM for the time I’m renting. 5G won’t solve the problem of having no tower.

 

[acheron1982]

With that being said, SXM does need a face lift. New format approach, sweepers... Etc.

 

[LegalTender]

Yeah 106.7 WAKL is doing great...Throw classic hits on, and ratings would soar,,,

WAKL up 650% in the latest (09/28) book (0.2-1.3).

Fish lost half its share from July (8.5-4.1).

The faithful are less than faithful. While abiding faith in PPM never subsides.


https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb047

 

[RoddyFreeman]

WAKL up 650% in the latest (09/28) book (0.2-1.3).

Fish lost half its share from July (8.5-4.1).

The faithful are less than faithful. While abiding faith in PPM never subsides.


https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb047

Yes, WAKL is up, no doubt due to the constant Wonderful Wackle call-in-to-win giveaways.

But your statement about The Fish is misleading. The Fish's share has been virtually the same for 3 months. The decline was before WAKL had any traction at all.