As you can tell from the many announcements here on SIRIUS Backstage, SIRIUS is seeking new ways to obtain new listeners, and one of the paths of enlightenment is the automobile.

Almost 14 millions Americans have embraced satellite radio, but the key component to radio sales appears to be deals with major car makers.

To date, SIRIUS and XM have booked deals with car companies encompassing 39 different brands. Notable names on SIRIUS’s side of the ledger include Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler and Ford. Consumers have shown an appetite for factory-installed satellite radios, and the subscriber base built from these car deals continues to grow for Sirius.

“While SIRIUS holds fewer auto deals, the company added 349,000 OEM subscribers in the 2006 fourth quarter and 1.1 million OEM net additions for the year, representing 55 percent of OEM net subscriber growth in the satellite radio industry. “Our goal for 2006 was to double our OEM subscriber base and we more than accomplished that goal,” James Meyer, president, sales and operations for SIRIUS, said in the company’s February earnings call. “SIRIUS started 2006 with 823,000 OEM subscribers and ended the year with more than 1.9 million subscribers in this important channel. Factory programs continue to gain momentum. SIRIUS ended 2006 with 132 individual vehicle model factory programs and149 total vehicle model programs. OEM economics will continue to improve and our penetration rates continue to increase.”

Awareness of the SIRIUS option at the consumer and dealer levels has never been higher,” says Meyer. Ford now has SIRIUS as a factory-installed option in 22 vehicle lines, compared to four at the beginning of 2006. Volkswagen and Audi began their 2007 model year launch of their previously announced exclusive partnership with SIRIUS, and the two manufacturers are targeting an 80 percent installation rate.

Mercedes-Benz now installs SIRIUS radios in more than two-thirds of all model year 2007 vehicles.

VIA Satellite, Vol. 22, No. 4 By Greg Berlocher, Copyright 2007 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.-0-Source: Comtex Wall Street News. Compliments of Scottrade.com

Posted by Brusimm on Saturday, April 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am.
Filed in Marketing, Auto Manufacturers, Sirius.
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