XM vs. Sirius Satellite Radio: Is the competition Sirius?
Written by Mike Ouellette (contact - e-mail) -- December 15th, 2006 |
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Coke vs. Pepsi, McDonalds vs. Burger King, Yankees vs. Red Sox are all examples of some of the most well known rivalries in American culture. Is it time to add XM vs. Sirius to this list? Well, the significance of this rivalry is certainly up for debate, however there is no arguing that it has been bitter battle to this point.
I am of course talking about the satellite radio space, where subscribers receive hundreds of programming options with CD quality reception all across the country. XM and Sirius have many similarities, such as programming and hardware options, making it difficult for consumers to decide between the two. If you’re a Howard Stern junky or addicted to the NFL then Sirius is likely your choice. If Oprah is more your speed or you can’t miss an MLB game then XM Radio is the better choice for you.
So who is winning the satellite radio battle in terms of market share? Well, currently XM has 7.1 million subscribers to Sirius’s 5.1 million. But, who will be winning after the holiday season and into next year? The number of people visiting both Sirius.com and XMRadio.com can be used as a proxy for the future market share of each product. Historically, each site has received similar amounts of people per month, indicating an equal level of consumer interest in both brands. Interesting to note, last month, at the height of the 2006 Holiday shopping season XM and Sirius experienced their largest differential in site traffic ever! While XM skyrocketed past the 1.4 million mark, Sirius hovered to 1.1 million.
When Sirius signed Howard Stern as their marquee radio personality in 2004 they did so with the expectation that he would boost subscriber numbers and thus gain market share on XM. While the signing of Stern definitely increased subscribers, it is clear now, 2 years later, that XM remains the industry leader. With 2 million more subscribers and 350,000 more people visiting their site in November, 2006, it appears the XM’s number one status is secure.
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December 15th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
In Canada there is more people who own a XM satellite receiver than Sirius…Why … On Sirius theres no french channels at all … otherwise on XM there’s about 4-5 french channel who deserve all french canadian across the country. And they sign the shock jock Jeff Fillion on the channel Sport Plus XM 172. The effect is like a bomb in the quebec province, the sales has increased so much!
December 28th, 2006 at 11:49 am
I’m confused. XM has 2 million more subscribers than Sirius, but only 350,000 more people visiting their site in November?
How can we tell how many of those visits were from people interested in buying a radio and how many were from subscribers listening online?
I need to look into it more, but I still hear reports of Sirius radios being out of stock. I still hear more people interested in buying Sirius radios vs. XM radios. Sirius is lagging on the automaker side, with XM as the sat radio installed 60% of the time vs. Sirius’ 40%. But then I also hear reports of people swapping out XM radios for Sirius and not as many folks doing the opposite.
This last paragraph is mostly hear-say, and I want to get some solid numbers for it. But my first impression of the website traffic is not “Look how XM is more popular.”, it’s “Look how Sirius is holding up despite the fact that they have just 2/3 the subscribers.”
I have to say though, that I am a fan of this kind of analysis. And there is some merit here. Keep up the good work.
January 6th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Xm no longer has 2 million more than Siri. And closing fast.
January 6th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I have been and will stay with X-M. However, I bought my dad a Sony Sat ready radio for x-mas with the intent to put Sir on it. The reason I went that way is the radio has a input jack in the front, and can put the sat rec in dash. By doing this I can use a jumper to the front from my X-m if I happen to be with him. The reason I would want both is NASCAR. My guess is X-M will loose some share when the NASCAR season starts in ‘07. I do like the trucker’s channel XM171, 144, and the weather. I don’t know any of the sir programing.
January 6th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I have had Sirius for a year and would not chnage. Purchased a new Sporster, gave the old one to my wife and now she is hooked. As for the car makers and XM, I was at a dinner in December and a gentleman there could not stop complaining about XM in his Cadillac. Seems he now gets less music and more advertising. Accept for the lack of MLB I do not regret going with Sirrius. I happen to be a stockholder now too. Also were I am at there are plenty ( or seem to be ) of radios available at the retailers.
January 6th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
One more point - There are three french stations on Sirius - and two Latin.
January 20th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Wow ive had Sirius for a month, I was with XM, what a joke, same songs over and over!! Sirius Gold is my Station!! I have 4 Sirius accts as of today 1 20 2007!! XM wouldt touch some of the songs Sirius does!! Norm N Nite someone i never heard of is so much better than the Motormouth at XM 60 s channel!! XM dropped CQ request hour, and played radio like it was Terrestrial, so I took my money to Sirius!! XM barely touches the early 60 s they concentrate on 1965 to 69!! And to get a early 60s song out of them is like the Lottery, the odds are against you, one day in my home town Concord I was at Circuit City played the sirius display for me after 15 mins I got one!! XM cant even play The Duke of Earl!! They overplay the Monkees and Brown Eyed girl , well on Sirius Gold Im finnally getting what i want!! Kenny in Concord Is sold on Sirius Gold!! and I might add in the Bay Area there is no where to hear Elvis since KFRC Flipped to Movin! Two choices Sirius or XM i ll take Sirius
February 7th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7eq38aYNMk
xm has the XM Satelite TV now!!!! They will get ahead of Sirius and most likely will take over.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
XM has lame programming. They spent mega bucks on Oprah and it’s worthless because Oprah is on TV everyday. Sirius spent less money to get Stern. Sirius had better music stations too.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Kenny Strong is right, the oldies on Sirius is awesome!
Sam P doesn’t know what is up. Sirius will buy out XM becuae XM is going down!
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:24 am
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September 22nd, 2007 at 5:06 am
If these two companies don’t merge they are going to flop..
December 10th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I have sirius and my wife’s car has XM. XM is a JOKE!! They have like 5 stations that play the same songs…..too many of them just run together on programming. You can hear the same songs on 5 different stations. Bottom line…..I pay to hear music not commercials!! If I wanted commercials I would stick to regular radio. The sirius stations I listen to have no advertising at all!! You get what you pay for with sirius!!