It’s largely off the radar for most broadcasters but I have noticed something interesting in the past year or so:
Satellite radio is getting more important to consumers.
I do regular proprietary research studies for broadcasters all over America, and one of my basic measures is the “favorite station” metric.
For the many music stations I have conducted these studies for in markets large and small, the majority feature “SiriusXM” as one of the top 12 “favorite stations or services” in the market.
Now I know that SiriusXM, like Pandora, packs many stations under one roof; this should give them an edge over any standalone station. Then again, those standalone radio stations have infinitely more distribution than SiriusXM. And it’s notable that SiriusXM ranks as a top (but never the top) “favorite” choice in study after study of consumers who are also radio listeners.
It’s also worth noting that when we broaden the question to include Cume and even Unaided Awareness, then SiriusXM declines as conventional stations rise.
In other words, SiriusXM is stealing loyalty from standalone stations but not Cume. At least not nearly to the same degree.
Is this effect sneaking up on the radio industry, even as broadcasters focus on the rise of online radio alternatives?
By the way, Pandora occasionally makes that list, too. But not as consistently as SiriusXM does.