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Study: Close To 15 Million Sat Radio Subs By Year End
June 15, 2006 at 6:17 AM (PT)
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The ongoing BRIDGE RATINGS study of satellite radio trending predicts that by the end of 2006, XM SATELLITE RADIO will have 8.4 million subscribers, while SIRIUS will have 6.5 million, bringing the combined total to 14.9 million subscribers.
In the second quarter of 2006, ending JUNE 12th, BRIDGE projects that XM signed up 648,086 subscribers, while SIRIUS added 615,150 for a Q2 total of 1,263,267. These projections are based on in-store interviews and do not take into account auto dealership sales, which accounted for approximately 13% of total subscribers in Q4 2005 and 25% in Q1 2006.
XM's share of this 15 week projected retail sales total is 50.2%, with SIRIUS attracting 49.8%. This reflects a slowing trend for XM, and an increase for SIRIUS over previous market share trends. During the last five weeks of Q2, ending JUNE 12th, SIRIUS attracted between 55% and 60% of new subscribers each week.
Interestingly, the SIRIUS uptrend does NOT appear to be driven by HOWARD STERN at this point, but by "other significant content benefits, most notably the quality of their music programming and their sports package," according to the study, which can be viewed by clicking here.

