Satellite Radio Ratings

Satellite Radio Mirrors Free, Say Arbitron Ratings

Katy Bachman
October 23, 2007

The most popular channels on satellite radio mirror the most popular formats on free radio, according to the first-ever satellite radio ratings released Tuesday from Arbitron. Among the top-rated channels were hit-based formats such as XM Satellite Radio's Top 20 on 20; Oldies formats, such as Sirius Satellite Radio Gold or XM's The 60s on 60; Country formats; and Adult Contemporary formats.

The ratings, for Persons 12 and older, were based on about 466,000 diaries across 300 markets measured by Arbitron for the Spring survey (April to June).

Howard Stern, formerly the King of All Media, is now The King of Satellite Radio. His two channels on Sirius, Howard Stern 100 and Howard Stern 101 were the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked satellite radio channels by average quarter-hour audience with 96,700 and 30,700 listeners, respectively.

With the exception of Sirius’ two Stern channels and No. 10-ranked New Country, XM Satellite Radio, with 8.2 million subscribers to Sirius’ 7.1 million, dominated the top 10-ranked channels.

In third place was XM’s The Blend (Adult Contemporary) with an average quarter-hour audience of 27,100; followed by Flight 26 (Modern Adult Hits), Willie's Place (a Traditional Country format named after Willie Nelson), Top Tracks (Early Classic Rock), Top 20 on 20 (Top 20), The 60s on 6 (60s Oldies), and The Virus (Talk featuring bad boys Opie & Anthony).

Earlier this year, XM an Sirius proposed a to merge in a $13.6 billion deal. The controversial deal is under review at the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

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from radio-info.com

October 24, 2007

Arbitron's first public ratings for Sirius and XM

Howard Stern is #1 on Sirius - his "Howard Stern 100" is the only channel there to break 1 million in cume, with over 1.2 million listeners, and an average quarter hour audience of 96,700. The "Howard Stern 101" channel is #2 in cume (502,000) and AQH (30,700). But Sirius' "New Country" channel 60 does 455,9000 in cume. Arbitron's basing these first-ever 12+ satellite radio listening estimates on the Spring 2007 book, and it shows that XM's reaching more people, overall, than Sirius. XM has a cume of 10,332,990, and Sirius is at 6,595,000. The XM listening is more evenly distributed than the Howard Stern-starring Sirius lineup. Just one XM channel breaks 1 million in cume, and it plays the hits - the "Top 20 on 20" channel. Country is also doing well on XM: "Willie's Place" does 437,000 cume and 24,900 AQH. One way to view those cumes - 10.3 million for XM, 6.6 million for Sirius - is against the 230 million or so listeners to over-the-air AM and FM radio. But the release from Arbitron is the first time the public has seen the channel-by-channel audience for satellite radio.

Read the complete report here (PDF).

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from fmqb.com

Howard Stern King Of All Satellite Radio

October 24, 2007

Arbitron has released its first-ever report on satellite radio ratings, with detailed figures on listenership for Sirius and XM. Unsurprisingly, Howard Stern's "Howard 100" is the most popular channel in satellite radio, with an AQH of 96,700 listeners and a total cume of 1,225,100. However, this is still only a fraction of Stern at his peak on terrestrial radio. The "Howard 101" sister station, home of Bubba The Love Sponge, is the second most popular Sirius channel.

As for Stern's rivals Opie & Anthony on XM, their "Virus" channel has an AQH of 20,8000, with a cume of 216,800. "The Virus" still makes the top ten overall in satellite radio, comparing both companies' channels. XM's most popular music channels are AC formatted "The Blend" and "Flight 26," while Sirius' New Country and CHR channels are the highest-rated, non-Stern programming.

The ratings also show the small amount of listenership for some of the niche channels, such as traffic & weather for major markets or college sports on XM (though the ratings came from the Spring 2007 book, outside of football season).

As for some of the other, big-name personalities, Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah & Friends" channel draws a weekly cume of just 115,800, while Martha Stewart's Sirius channel nets only 35,700 listeners per week.

Overall, Arbitron found that XM has a weekly cume of 10,332,900, while Sirius has a cume of 6,595,000. The satellite ratings were for persons ages 12+, based on approximately 466,000 in 300 markets during the Spring book (April-June).

Updated: October 24, 2007

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