Study: Stern Effect Will Help Sirius Bridge Gap With XM
We don’t really get to talk math much here on SateLink, and that’s a shame really. Therefore, I’m dedicating this post about Howard Stern to the facts and figures of satellite radio subscription.
Here are our facts:
A Sirius radio subscription costs $12.95/month, or $155.40/year.
Sirius is paying shock jock Howard Stern $500 over the next 5 years. (100m/year)
Making Sense of the Numbers: 5 years of Howard Stern alone is worth 10X the entire NHL.. (NHL and XM recently signed a 10 year $100 contract. This is $10m/year vs. Stern’s $100m).
Therefore, in order to actually pay Stern’s salary, Sirius will need to sign up about 650,000 new subscribers expressly resulting from Stern. Perhaps this is why Stern is positioned so prominently on Sirius’s website.
Sirius said 1,000,000 to be on the safe side, but still, one fact remains: Who the hell listens to Howard Stern? I mean, I know they must be out there, but I don’t think I’ve ever met one, or at least if I have they certainly didn’t admit it.
Regardless, according to a recent study Stern will account for a whopping 1.5 million new subscribers between now and January. Still, this is just a projection, and may or may not come to pass.
If it does, it will mean a lot for Sirius. Even if XM meets its projection of 5.5 million subscribers by next year, the total gap will have narrowed by over 20% of the market share. Of course, we’ll be keeping an eye on this situation as it develops.
September 21st, 2005 at 9:36 pm
my wife and i both listen to howard stern - we know a lot of ppl that do - but perhaps that’s because we’re all new yorkers. the only reason i subscribed to sirius is because of him - but as even he has said, and i can now agree with, there is a ton of good programming on there even without him.
September 24th, 2005 at 6:45 pm
That is true…lots of good stuff without him, but he is a great addition to the company, whether you like him or not. He stands for something we should all be proud of, a free speech America! Those that would whine about him need to get off their fat bon-bon ridden a$$ and change the channel, that is what those dials are for. Even better…Sirius supplies remotes with EVERY unit they sell, use that!
September 29th, 2005 at 3:27 pm
[...] Sirius launched its long awaited Howard Stern channel today at 5am EST. Eager Stern fans (and I know they’re out there now) who flipped the Sirius dial to channel 100 were greeted with a scrolling message, “We’re building toward Howard Stern’s arrival in January,” and total silence. You know how in horror movies, there’s a noise or a knock on the door, and then the heroine jumps up and throws the door open and theres… nothing? Well, it’s kind of like that. [...]
January 4th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Are you out of your mind on this one? I know it’s about two years old but jesus h. “Who listens to Howard Stern” come on you must be a damn fool and by now should be feeling like one! That’s the dumbest GD statement I’ve ever read…..about about over 5 million have signed up since his annoucement to join Sirius….HOW about almost everyone that buys a radio will tell you it’s because of Stern….you’re a whack job