Commentary
Satellite Radio Has a 4.2% Penetration, With 18-24 Year Olds Leading
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 29, 2005
According to BIGresearch's March Consumer Intentions and Actions 18-34 year olds are the satellite radio providers #1 age group for current subscribers and also for those planning on buying in the next 6 months. However, it appears that for those 35+, the majority say they don't plan on buying/subscribing to satellite radio at this time, and are less likely to be current subscribers.
Education about the advantages or useful outcomes of subscribing to satellite radio appear to be necessary in order to motivate the 35 plus crowd to subscribe as 22.7% of the 35-44 year olds said they didn't know enough about the service, 24.3% of the 45-54 year olds, 28.5% of the 55-64 year olds and 42% of the 65+ said the same.
Ryan Brock, VP of Strategic Services with MarketStar Corporation, says "Lack of understanding of the benefits and technological anxiety are the key hurdles that the satellite radio vendors need to overcome at this stage, especially for sub-segments including older consumers." Brock suggests that “… retailers need to target these consumer segments … with hands-on, face to face educational tools to overcome these specific objections."
4.2% of consumers 18+ said they currently subscribe to one of the satellite radio services and 2.5% said they are planning to within the next 6 months. An additional 16.1% said they plan to subscribe someday.
Of those people who said they plan to subscribe, 28.7% said they would subscribe to Sirius, 16.7% said XM and 54.6% were undecided about which service they would choose. XM was the #1 pick for 18-24 year olds and Sirius was #1 for all other age groups.
Regarding satellite Radio (Sirius, XM), which statement best applies to you? | |||||||||
| All | Male | Female | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
I have it | |||||||||
| 4.2% | 4.5% | 3.9% | 5.6% | 5.3% | 3.7% | 3.3% | 3.6% | 4.0% |
I plan to buy it in the next 6 months | |||||||||
| 2.5% | 3.5% | 1.6% | 4.4% | 4.2% | 2.6% | 1.8% | 0.9% | 1.1% |
I plan to buy it someday | |||||||||
| 16.1% | 20.6% | 11.9% | 28.5% | 25.8% | 15.9% | 13.8% | 7.5% | 5.1% |
I don't think I'll buy it at this time | |||||||||
| 52.6% | 57.8% | 47.8% | 47.7% | 48.7% | 55.2% | 56.8% | 59.5% | 47.9% |
I don't know enough about it to make a purchase decision | |||||||||
| 24.6% | 13.7%3 | 4.7% | 13.8% | 15.9% | 22.7% | 24.3% | 28.5% | 42.0% |
Source: BIGresearch, March 2005 | |||||||||
Which brand will you most likely purchase? | ||||||||||
| All | Male | Female | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
|
Sirius | 28.7% | 31.3% | 26.3% | 23.4% | 33.4% | 29.4% | 28.9% | 33.0% | 23.3% |
|
XM | 16.7% | 20.4% | 13.4% | 36.4% | 21.0% | 13.8% | 13.4% | 7.7% | 10.8% |
|
Undecided | 54.6% | 48.4% | 60.4% | 40.2% | 56.8% | 56.8% | 57.7% | 59.3% | 65.8% |
|
Source: BIGresearch, March 2005 | ||||||||||
For more on satellite radio visit the BIGresearch blog.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.