Satellite radio in the US is failing to attract the expected audiences, with a new survey from The Media Audit revealing that the medium is performing poorly in terms of penetration rates.
From a total sample of 117,737 respondents, only 571 adults aged 18+ said they listened to satellite radio at least once in the past seven days. Bob Jordan, president of the firm that produces The Media Audit, International Demographics Inc, said: “We were surprised at how little market penetration has been achieved by satellite radio.”
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Jordan said: “The demographic profile of the satellite audience is most certainly affluent and well educated, but the absence of significant market penetration also show up in the demographics.”
More than 73% of all satellite listeners were shown to have incomes of $50,000 or more, with that 73% representing just 0.8% of all households with incomes in excess of $50,000. The research revealed that approximately 63% of satellite listeners are men, with 55% having at least one college degree.
The Media Audit found that 76.1% of all adult listeners are 35+, while just fewer than 50% are 45 and over. More than 29% of satellite listeners fall into the proprietor/managerial classification, with 17.3% falling into the professional/technical category.
In the 87 markets surveyed by The Media Audit, satellite radio attracted only 10,000 or more adults in just 20 of the 87 markets surveyed. New York City attracted the largest number of listeners, with 76,000 out of a market of more than 14 million adults.
According to a recent Forrester Research study, satellite radio will have 20 million listeners by 2010, up from 4.5 million subscribers at the end of 2004 (see Satellite Radio To Reach Over 20.1 Million US Households By 2010).
This prediction is disappointing according to Jordan, saying: “Satellite has a large number of formats and Forrester’s 20 million projection represents the combined draw of all the formats. Compare that projection to the News-Talk format in traditional radio that draws more than 19 million listeners just in the 87 markets covered by The Media Audit’s latest surveys.”
According to Jordan, the two primary problems faced by satellite radio are cost and lack of portability. He said: “Satellite radio is competing with a product that is distributed free, and that’s a heck of a price disadvantage. The portability issue may be solved, but making satellite portable is the easy part. Building the audience and selling their numbers is the tough part.”
In the UK the declining sales of DAB radio prices, unique digital radio stations, and a wide range of DAB radio products combined to propel the market to new heights during 2004. The Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) has predicted that nearly a third (29%) of UK homes will have a digital radio within the next four years (see Digital Radio In The UK Set For Boom Time By 2008).
Related Links
