This site is dedicated to new ideas and concepts with regard to Sirius XM Satellite Radio. New technology, marketing ideas, and strategic partnerships are fair game. This site is for brainstorming and I welcome all new ideas.
DISCLOSURE: I own shares of Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

8.23.2008

Another Google in the making?

It cannot be disputed that Google is the king of advertising. Their model has overtaken the internet and has started eating into traditional advertising models. You can advertise with them everywhere on the web, including on this site. They are also making a push into mobile advertising, but it is limited to the cellular market at this time.

Sirius is the king of satellite radio. Users are very loyal. I became a subscriber 3 months ago after baulking for years that I wasn't going to pay for something I could get for free. A few things changed my mind somewhere along the way. I had a loaner car a number of times over the past few years and it usually had XM installed. I always enjoyed the selections of channels and the lack of commercials. I really liked the lack of commercials. After a number of years watching this stock, I decided to purchase a stake in it at the beginning of this year. It was time to go get a radio and take the plunge!

How does Sirius XM advertise when their model depends on a lack of advertising? I can see them exploiting the ad space market similar to Google via three main mechanisms (some of which exist today): advertising during talk and sports programming, targeted ads using the mobile market, and targeted ads using Sirius Traffic.

Advertising during sports and talk programming is nothing new to Sirius XM. However, there is one big difference from the past: Sirius XM has all sports programming one one radio. Advertisers have to take satrad as a serious platform now that there are 18M+ users. You will be able to get every MLB/NFL/NHL/NASCAR event. This is the dream of all sports fans. You will be able to hear Oprah/Howard/O&A/Emeril/Martha on one radio.

I think that the mobile market has a huge amount of potential.. Not only does it allow you to cheaply reach a multitude of users for little to no extra expense, but it gives you a location-based advertising platform. Many cell phones have GPS or triangulated position services nowadays. Knowing where a user is located gives Sirius XM the opportunity to show targeted ads on the display with their radio service. Since you cannot hear it, it does not take away from the listening experience. It also gives them the opportunity to offer free internet radio service if the user is willing to hear commercials.

Another advertising model which has been discussed briefly would be via Sirius Traffic. Since the service knows where the car is, they can easily suggest preferred gas stations, restaurants, entertainment, and shopping locations. They could easily provide the location, its distance, a brief description, and possibly even specials/coupons. This is where I think we have our greatest potential to become Google-like.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, I certainly hope you're prescient. I'd be plenty happy with 1/8th of Google's success right now and its PPS.

Proc(stockproctologist)