Sirius XM At Work
Radio is really not a very complicated business. You want to offer something that no one else can, to attract as many listeners as possible. Sirius XM has certainly nailed this part down! The biggest problem that Sirius XM seems to have not figured out, is where and when people actually listen to radio.
I know from personal experience that I rarely listen to radio at home. I always listen in my car, yet the time spent in my car is minimal. Sirius XM has, up to now, primarily sought subscribers from those people who listen in their cars.
Most people, in my opinion listen to radio AT WORK. Over the past 2 weeks, one observant reader of SiriusBuzz has pointed several times that Mad Dog Radio is not available on the Internet, and that many people are not in their cars between 2 to 5 P.M. Which has brought me back to this subject that I am adamant about.
There are over 11 million construction workers in the United States. Carpenters, Painters, Electricians, Plumbers, Sheet-rockers, Masons and Landscapers. Do you know what these people do all day, every day? They listen to RADIO! They don’t listen to iPods. Instead they listen to the cheapest radios produced and sold at the highest possible price because they are made for a construction environment. Milwaukee, DeWalt and Bosch all make specific work-site radios for tradespeople, yet none of them are equipped with Satellite Radio. Can you guess what auto mechanics listen to at work? That’s right, radio.
Most of America does not have the luxury of sitting at a desk all day or driving in their cars. They work! In my opinion, this is the largest pool of potential subscribers and they have been ignored for the most part.
There are nearly 70 million full-time employed adults at work during an average work day. That’s nearly 6 times the combined annual US Auto Sales. At 5 PM more than 28,500,000 are still working. At 6 PM 16,100,000 are still working.
Rather than all this talk of iPods and high-tech devices, I think Sirius XM should reach out to the working man and woman. The middle class, rather than the BMW buyer. This was Sterns audience. Not the Mercedes Benz buyer. And people who work are the ones who can afford Satellite Radio. These are also the people that advertisers want to reach.
Position: Long SIRI
Brandon, thanks for the plug. I have sent emails to both Blalock and Andrew Fitzpatrick the head of the Sports Entertainment Dept for SiriusXM re: Why the Mad Dog show is not on the Internet line-up….Guess what, no response from either of them. I don’t know what the fuck Mel and his crew of incompetents are doing. They should be replaying Mad Dog’s show same as they do for Stern’s show. I’m paying for Mad Dog and cannot sit in my driveway with the motor running for 5 hours. Mel, wake-the-fuck-up!!!!!!!
Brandon do you send your articles to anyone at Sirius? I hope so.
My wofe and I both work from home. we like to listen to XM’s UPop channell while we work. At least we did, until three months or so ago when the evil bar stewards at XM killed UPop without bothering their arses to tell subscribers of their decision.
In short, I agree – we do like to listen to the radio while we work, provided we can actually get the channels we like!
Absolutely need a replay of Mad Dog show once it’s over. I am in Los Angeles and at worl from 11 – 4 and miss the entire show except for when I go to grab lunch. I can’t listen at my desk during work hours.
good idea….now forward it to everyone you can think of at SiriusXM.
I know this is off subject, but Sirius needs to also convince the automakers to increase penetration to at least overall 75% and move towards 100% in the next 2 years. I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal to add to all cars if it’s something they are obviously committed to long-term.
Especially SiriusXM should be 100% in all the new hybrids, electric vehicles that will be hot sellers (Example Chevy Volt by GM) It will be a big missed opportunity if they don’t get in on those sales.
50% penetration will not work anymore with the churn they will be sufferring on 20 million subs. They have to add 1 million to get ~ 300k right now and it will be harder the bigger the # gets, so penetration must increase dramatically in coming years 15%/year I think !
Brandon:
To piggyback on to your thought regarding a portable radio. An additional product that should be more than possible, is a wireless device that can pick up your car radio Satellite radio device and transmit it to your ear piece. This has to be as simple as walkie talkie technology. People who can put the product in their car, and then place a device in their car that transmits to an earpice or stationary speaker on their jobsite would be more than willing to become a subscriber.
Great idea. The only thing I can say is that there are 1000 opportunities/directions out there for Sirius to pursue. However, as Mel said in the last conference call, they can put satellite radio in a toaster, but they’re not going to do anything unless it creates postive cash flow. All these things cost a lot of time and resources up front, which hurts the short-term income statements and loan prospects. When cash is not an issue, I’m sure they’ll go for it. But right now they’re just trying to get through a this crisis period.
Brandaon you are a genius! what a great idea
Well put, send your resume to Mel!
You can’t watch TV and do most jobs. But you can listen to radio. This should be great for sub rates. The new xm portable by recording up to 5 channels simultaneously should be a great addition. With capabilities like this you can record almost anything and listen when it is convenient to you. It does seem like they are moving slow and without enough clarity and definition. But it seems to me there are lots of good things coming down the pike and many possibilities. These are the worst of times. And these too shall pass. Go SIRIUS XM.
A lot of Sirius listeners ARE definitely listening from work. A major barrier to that is the terrible web interface Sirius uses for streaming audio. But patient, dedicated listeners are working it out, via premium service or one of the 3rd party software alternatives. Or just by sticking a radio on their desk.
Yet Sirius is programmed for 25-minute car rides, and that could well be the death of the service, the endless repeats. The hires for music programming are mostly the culprits for making Sirius music suck, by the way. Sad, catering to the crowd who could care less, not the dedicated day-long listeners.
But Mel would put Mad Dog on the stream in a minute if he could. Mad Dog probably has some other inferior web deal he’s honoring at the moment, which he should probably man up and buy himself out of so SiriusXM can stream, baby, stream.