SiriusXM Doubles Down on Car Subscribers In Pivot From Year-Old Streaming App
The satellite radio giant also announce the departure of its chief product and technology officer and the hiring of a chief operating officer.
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Nearly one year after launching a new streaming app, SiriusXM Holdings announced on Tuesday it is moving away from streaming and doubling down on the people who pay for its music, news and podcasts in cars.
Sirius has become the dominant provider of audio entertainment subscriptions in vehicles in the recent years in the U.S. but concerns over softening subscriber revenue and an eagerness to attract more younger subscribers pushed the launch of a streaming app last December.
While their $9.99 subscription for streaming on your phone will still be available, the company will focus resources on keeping and selling more services to the 33 million people with SiriusXM subscriptions—90% of whom listen in their cars.
“We are focusing on … our strong core subscriber base, our unique position in vehicle, and our unrivaled, curated content — and taking steps to drive profitability and cash flow as we face marketplace headwinds impacting the company’s growth trajectory,” SiriusXM chief executive Jennifer Witz said in a statement.
Streaming, which is already sold as a companion to the in-car subscription for $24.98, will be considered a “companion” offering, the company said, through partnerships with companies like Tesla. But it is shifting “marketing and other resources away from high-cost, high-churn audiences in streaming to focus resources on core revenue-generating segments.”
The company also named Wayne Thorsen the company’s chief operating officer in charge of product & technology, corporate strategy and parts of the commercial business. Thorson is charged with tracking “the return on marketing and technology investments.” A former Google and Viacom executive, Thorsen previously oversaw product management, engineering and business development for home security company ADT. Thorsen’s appointment coincides with the departure of chief product and technology officer Joseph Inzerillo, who played a pivotal role in modernizing SiriusXM’s technology platform and launching the streaming app.
SiriusXM invested two years and millions of dollars into updating its technology and developing the streaming app, which it unveiled last December, along with a new logo. The new app came with new channels run by John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Shaggy and Smokey Robinson, as well as a weekly show by James Corden and a new true-crime channel from Crime Junkies podcast host Ashley Flowers.
The company’s investments in podcasting and new technology has driven years of belt-tightening and at least two rounds of layoffs, which resulted in around 650 jobs being cut in 2023 and 2024. Having cut costs by $200 million this year and $150 million in 2023, executives said Tuesday they are aiming to achieve an additional $200 million in cost savings next year.
During its most recent quarterly earnings, SiriusXM lowered its 2024 revenue goal to $8.675 billion from $8.75 billion due to lower subscriber revenue and softer-than-projected advertising revenue in the second half of this year.
The company reported gaining 14,000 self-pay subscribers in the third quarter this year. However, subscriber revenue was down to $1.645 billion in the third quarter 2024 from $1.729 billion during the third quarter 2023.
SiriusXM reaches around 150 million listeners through SiriusXM, Pandora and its growing podcast service.
