Why Sirius XM Will Not Survive
In a day and age where the Internet and technology are evolving at a blazing pace, Sirius XM continues to sit on their hands watching the times pass them by. Now more then ever, people of this world are plugged-in looking for alternative ways of getting their news and entertainment yet all they get from Sirius XM is the same old websites and stale web based media players that don’t even work in modern browsers.
If Sirius XM truly wants to survive and build their brand, the current marketing and web team have to go. It’s time to get some fresh faces in place that understand the value of social media, shiny widgets, online marketing, and just how important things like iPhone applications are to this companys survival.
It’s time to wake up Sirius XM, we are all waiting and watching but day after day you deliver nothing. Where is your blog? How about a twitter stream? Where is my widget? Better yet, why not get creative and leverage the power of monster online communities such as Myspace and Facebook?
Just last week the marketing team at Crispin Porter and Bogusky, who never cease to amaze me, got their client Burger King plastered all over the net with their creative Facebook application. Not only did they pull off a great viral marketing campaign but, it was so creative and controversial that they wound up getting more residual branding from the never ending buzz around the watercooler and blogosphere. Do you guys at Sirius XM even know what Facebook is?
500 million iPhone applications have been downloaded since the Apple App Store first launched in July of 2008 and not one of them was a Sirius XM application. How long do you think current and potential subscribers should have to wait to listen to Sirius XM on their new iPhone? Your team of overthinkers didn’t consider that this technology was important enough to spend some time on? Do you not realize that these iPhone addicts are the same early adopters of technology who spend their hard earned money on things like… satellite radio?
Make no mistake about it, people are downloading Pandora and Slacker iPhone applications every day and until you give them an alternative you are throwing potential market share out the window.
So, I ask you Sirius XM, is this the end or are you ready to embrace the changing times?
Charles…VERY CYNICAL SURVIVAL OPINION!
You are sounding more like the CNBC talking heads…you must be a close friend of Cramer now.
You should be tarred and feathered for your turncoat attitude.
Charles –
Nice headline to spread around the internet.
Thanks.
boooo
You, Charles and the self proclaimed guy “Wise One” on the MSN messageboards for siri need to become good buddies. You are both obviously needing attention for some reason of bizarre secondary gain.
If Charles wanted attention …he surely will get it with his opinion about the demise of SIRI.
Charles,
I hear you have competing job offers with TheStreet.com and MotleyFool.com after this little piece of yours…
While Charles was writing this, Orbitcast got a scoop that on-line access to Sirius/XM will be an additional cost and no longer be free to subs.
Actually, if you subscribe to my twitter feed you will see that I got that scoop yesterday 😉
You all address me personally instead of the facts in the article. Just because it’s bad news doesn’t mean it’s not true. I am a shareholder as well (at a very high cost avg), don’t think for a minute that I don’t want what is best for this company. It’s time for someone to start taking them to task. That is all I am going to say about it.
GREAT – right on the money – article, Charles. At a minimum, if Sirius is working on these things behind the scenes, then they better get out there and talk about them publicly.
How about that Fiat…. “Charles”… 35 percent interest in Chrysler
Chrysler/Sirius/ Chrysler no belly up for now- good thing…..
This is todays news should have jumped all over it…….Facebook/Burger King?
Charles I have three sirius radios and have all my retirement IRA riding on Sirius -I am an adult and couldnt care about face book(thats another venue for people to regain low self esteem) and I am healthy and I dont eat at Burger King.
-Thats my own business, but it is also my business to chastize those who flaunt and yield their literary prose in such damaging grandstand fashion. Whats with that title?
Maybe Charles you are an “analyst”? for a big financial firm who requires a governmental bailout. Maybe you need a nudge from the lawyers at Sirius to watch what you write?
Might Charles have a last name? Yet we will now remember you as our “butler” of good tidings?
Don’t know why you are putting my name in quotes. You can verify that my real name is in fact Charles.
Don’t be mad at me because you are biased with that huge investment.
It doesn’t matter if you care about facebook, hundreds of millions of people do.
I am no analyst. I am a user interface designer for a software company.
My last name is LaRocca.
As you wish
Charles what happened to MySpace and Crox?
Fads don’t pay off except to the founders who dump them on corporate buyers. How many Apps on iphone are profitable? Maybe iFart! Are Pandora and Slacker profitable? Are they paying artist royalties?
Does Oprah have an iPhone App? I don’t know of anyone listening to internet radio while driving.
The hurdle is financing.
Amusing article. Of course the opportunity to expand off of what Sirius is already doing is extraordinary in areas where they have not yet marketed…….but your insuation that they will fail because of this is way off the mark. The FACTS are that they are growing…..DESPITE……our economy and surroundings. Subscriber numbers are GROWING each quarter and people love the service that they CURRENTLY are subscribing to.
The other market areas you mentioned are certainly areas that SIRIUS should and will enter into…….but in the meantime they are doing quite nicely in terms of growth without it. How many other companies and services that you know are reflecting this kind of growth in todays economy?
This goes along the lines of what we discussed a month or so ago. SIRI needs to go after the under 30’s crowd. I can’t remember who raised the discussion, but SIRI needs to break out the bling bling, to target this customer base.
For those of you who are upset with this article, I am out 15k, armageddon has been priced into this stock. Nothing anyone says about this company bothers me at all anymore. And it should not bother you as well. Besides, its just words anyway.
Youre all mad…because its TRUE!
What hole did you crawl out from?
It seems that the only people who get extremely defensive are the Sirius shareholders. I too am a shareholder and subscriber, but realize that I have to be realistic. The stock has dropped 95% and throughout that time most shareholders (esp. the ones deeply invested) bashed the analysts saying they are biased, have ulterior motives, etc. (lame excuses) but if you think about it, who are the biased ones?? A lot of analysts have been right. SiriusXM is failing and getting desperate with the cuts and price increases. They have to make it through this year or it’s over.
Burger King?! New Marketing?! Stale brands? What?! The answer is: Let’s clog the arteries of SiriusXM’s content pipe with more junk. Very creative, thank you for that example of forward and innovative marketing.
You are clearly old and out of the loop. The times have passed you by grandpa.
Maybe. New technologies should eschew crass- commercial obfuscation whenever possible. Too much of that will definitely kill SiriusXm in the future if that is the route they choose to take. Why I remember terrestrial radio…..
I apologize. I missed the point. I concede that it is going to be hard to brand SiriusXm to the youger peeps. When I was in my twenties and younger I was all about organizing my own playlists and could really care about radio. This is why Satrad is focusing so hard on baby-boomers and x-geners. GLTA.
The article is dead on, although I hope the conclusion, that Sirius XM will not survive is wrong.
Sirius XM has fumbled the distribution of it product. The satellites were a good start but it should be available via a multitude of other devices from wifi handhelds, to proprietory squeezebox and RCA infinite radio like devices. Instead they are killing the golden goose by increasing the price on family subs.
BTW, if I am not mistaken Charles is the only one actually using his real name
I think that technology is widening the generation gap. My nephew the other day told me (somewhat jokingly, but many a true are spoken in gest) that I am too old to have a Facebook Page. The Facebook/Myspace generation have time to sit in front of their computers and find new music and they love thier iPods. “Old” folks like me don’t have the time or inclination for that. I would rather turn on my radio and just listen. I have an iPod and it is linked directly to my car radio. I still listen to SIRI XM more because I am just not inclined to search the internet for new music and download it and I also don’t care to have headpones on all of the time. I like to use my voice to talk to people. Just old fashioned I guess.
My point in a nustshell is that I think SIRI XM recongnizes that they are appealing to people in my generation, and there are a lot of us. Certainly enough for SIRI XM to “survive”.
That’s how I see it anyway.
Jon
Also, did you see the Street.com article. According to them it is more expesive to SIRI XM to be available over the internet. So maybe the things that youa are mentioning are not that inexpensive.
I’m not an expert on the subjuct. I am just calling your attention to the article.
I have to agree somewhat in what Charles said. SiriusXM has done a very poor job in branding a sexy image – or any image for that matter. There seems to be very little urge or need of wanting to get Sirius from the public. I think they need to steal some PR/Marketing people from Apple and make it a product/service people HAVE to get.
In my family, we have 4 people who have Sirius currently. Of which 2 of them have no clue how to operate it properly. My grandfather was given a Sirius subscription – and loves it when everything works…so long as he doesn’t touch the unit to mess up the settings. My mom just purchased a new Nissan Altima with the SiriusXM trial subscription and she can’t even tell if she likes it or not cause she can’t tell what she is listening to between terrestrial and Satellite. No instructions or anything were given at time of sale and the factory radio interface is NOT intuitive. Her comment about not paying for something she’s not sure how to use is an issue with Sirius for the future.
It’s completely frustrating as a Sirius lifetime subscriber and shareholder to see that there is little “direction” for the future of this company. If Howard leaves in a couple of years, and there is no improvement, SiriusXM is in trouble.
Mr. LaRocca lets us hope and pray today that more importantly America and less importantly Sirius -move in the same direction for the future.
Perhaps with your verbal talent and means to print you might suggest that Martin Luther King Day and Election Day be celebrated as one day –
Peace.
At least back in 2006, the Sirius hosts were told not to give out myspace addresses, with the explanation that Sirius didn’t want to “promote an outside company”. Maybe that’s changed now, but just a kernel of insight into how decisions are being made.
Agreed, the web sites are a mess.
I agree. Sirius XM is going to find their demise with alternative music choices that market themselves better. Already I stream internet radio to my car. Not only do I get a better music selection, and a guarantee that my channels won’t be removed, but I also get far better audio quality. Not perfect quality, but far better. First they decrease music choice, and now want to increase cost? please.
agree with most of your article. Their web presence lacks a lot, also their marketing. Hire some young people and listen to them. But there is little as simple as having SATRAD in a vehicle. And with so much content. THERE IS STILL HOPE!?!?!
Charles,
You say: “No, that part is opinion… which is clear because it begins with “why” and it was written by me. So, it must be my opinion. The title does not say “Sirius XM Failed.””
Not so! “Why” written the way you wrote it without a question mark (“?”) is a statement, not the question.
That is why (note how my use of “why” in this sentence is a statement, not a question) your title is misleading, and I posted my post suggesting your article was written as if you worked for TheStreet.com or MotleyFool.com.
Obviously, I was using literary license to suggest you had job offers from them,…it was merely to point out that your article, particularly your TITLE, was written as they write their articles (and titles), to obtain hits, rather than to be honest to the content of the article.
I think you could have solved this whole problem by having a title that was a fairer representation of your article…
btw, I am not suggesting that you did this (wrote the title to obtain hits), but that is how it comes across to the reader.
also, btw, you should realize that you get all these comments because you site is relied upon so much, and the alternative, not having these comments would imply that your site was not as successful as it is…so take these comments all as constructive criticism, rather than an insult.
It was a statement, my statement. No matter how you cut it, the article is clearly opinion based. Keep in mind it is the opinion of someone who works online for a living so, not only is it my job to have my finger on the pulse of this but, I also work with some of the best who tend to agree with me.
BTW the title was written the way it was because it is what I believe. It wasn’t to obtain traffic, if you knew me personally you would know that this article was a conversation that I had with a couple of friends of mine the other day and they said it was spot on and worth posting. No fluff added, just my exact feelings about Sirius XM’s situation.
I don’t take any of it as an insult. I appreciate the input of everyone… even the infamous stackpointer.
Well, at least you are seeing the light. Except that BK is what Mel and Black actually want in the end which is very, very near.
I agree 100% and I am impressed that you branched outside of Bubba!
They need a major shake up in marketing or whatever they call it. They probably could of hired Crispin Porter + Bogusky for the price they paid Mad Dog. That is the ad agency behind “The King” (Burger King) and many other memorable brands.
About damn time we got things stirred up around here. Keep it going writers and posters. A lame duck is just that. Oh yeah, relevance. Raise prices to what the bearer is willing to pay I say. More revenue = more revenue. I’m all for it. Put a new name on it for the new car buyers and squeeze every damn nickel out of them. No I”m not kidding.
There are better apps out there
I used to be on this board all the time, I lost so much money on this stock that it is not even funny. I now am a strong believer breaking even making a profit elseware.
Charles is right don’t bash the guy for being a 100 right. He is a techie and has a good understanding of the market
go Charles