I was having a discussion about the low auto sales and its effect on sat rad subs. It dawned on me that Mel is a pretty smart guy, who knows how to run a radio business. Having given it some thought, I've come to these conclusions:
The downturn in auto sales didn't just happen in June. It's been happening all year. A good CEO would not sit back and allow this to deter growth. Anyone looking at an oil chart with an auto sales chart can see a trend. That's easy. So putting myself in a board room, armed with all the negative data, what do we do to combat the negative oem numbers? Keep in mind the install rates have risen. So that's a partial offset.
First. We go after our current subscribers and offer them second subscriptions. This occurred a lot in Q2.
Second. We go after more retail growth. Q2 saw a return to retail advertising that has been missing for the last 2 quarters.
Third. We go after more business subscriptions. We saw this in Q2 also with an announced auto deal (I forget which one). Sirius now has 4 marketing partners in this area, where only AMTC existed before. They have added Dynamic Media, Info-hold and Turnkey Media Solutions to promote the business subs and go after Muzak.
AMTC - http://www.amtc.com/
Dynamic Media - http://www.dynamicmedia-us.com/
Info-Hold, Inc - http://www.infohold.com/
TurnKey Media Solutions- http://www.tkmsolutions.com/
I think they just might surprise us this quarter. I'm not saying they will surprise to the upside, but they very well may come in-line in a very poor market environment.