Satellite and streaming audio provider SiriusXM rolled out a refresh of its corporate brand on Wednesday, a move that will also see changes to its cornerstone audio services made in the near future.
The announcements were made during an industry and media presentation held in New York City and streamed over the web, where executives said the next generation of SiriusXM’s audio services were designed to provide more altruistic fan experiences for music lovers and better personalization across its music and spoken word content.
The centerpiece of the presentation was the unveiling of a much-anticipated refresh of SiriusXM’s streaming radio app, which will officially debut to users of Apple, Android and Amazon Fire-powered devices in mid-December. The new app offers improvements to content search and discovery, and emphasizes personalization above all else.
SiriusXM Chief Product Officer Joe Inzerillo said the refreshed apps were intended to bridge the gap between in-car and out-of-car radio listening. To that end, he showed off an alpha version of a new in-car streaming radio experience that will allow SiriusXM users to discover new content and pick up where they left off on channels or shows in progress.
“It’s all modern, performant and cloud-native,” Inzerillo said.
SiriusXM executives brought out @HowardStern to present at this morning's industry and press preview of the company's new brand, radio channels and streaming app. pic.twitter.com/L7XR3oHKwD
— TheDesk.net (@TheDeskDotNet) November 8, 2023
In addition to the refreshed streaming radio apps, SiriusXM said it was introducing a new “all access” plan for those who preferred listening to its content online. The new plan, called Streaming All Access, will cost $10 per month, or $1 less than a comparable version offered to streamers now.
It wasn’t clear from SiriusXM’s announcement if the $10 per month price point for the Streaming All Access plan also included a Music Royalty Fee that SiriusXM charges to offset licensing costs paid to record labels and artists. Typically, that fee adds between $1 and $3 to the cost of a SiriusXM subscription. The Music Royalty Fee is usually higher on plans tied to SiriusXM’s legacy satellite radio service, and not charged at all on plans that don’t include live or on-demand music stations.
The redesign of its streaming radio app comes as SiriusXM tries to reach younger consumers who are more likely to listen to live and on-demand audio content, including music and podcasts, on a wide variety of devices.
On Wednesday, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said so-called “Millennials” and those who are younger were viewed by the company as its “growth audience,” which represents around 25 percent of the audio market.
“These consumers are open to subscribing to more than one audio service to meet all their needs, and they’re willing to pay for a premium experience,” Witz said. “They are fueled by fandom, and are used to listening wherever, whenever the mood strikes.”
Another 25 percent of SiriusXM consumers are part of its “core audience,” which includes members of Generation X and older. Taken together, Witz said SiriusXM’s core and growth audiences represent more than 80 percent of consumers who spend money on music and other audio.
“The heart of our value proposition is our unique content offering,” Witz said, pointing to the radio service’s 400-plus live and aggregated content channels along with its content library of on-demand, spoken word audio that amounts to tens of thousands of hours.
To that end, SiriusXM executives touted the power of their existing content offerings fueled by radio personalities, celebrities and athletes like Howard Stern, Tom Brady, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, Kevin Hart, Andy Cohen and Conan O’Brien, while pledging new shows and channels spearheaded by well-known musicians like John Mayer, Smokey Robinson, Shaggy, Kelly Clarkson and Dolly Parton.
While much of the event was focused on its streaming radio platform, SiriusXM executives didn’t ignore its legacy satellite radio service, either. Early in the presentation, the company unveiled a new corporate logo that is tied to a refreshed brand identity, one that incorporates a star icon into the “S” of “SiriusXM,” a reference to Sirius, the brightest star visible from Earth.
Additionally, SiriusXM said it was bringing back Mongo, a dog mascot that graced the former Sirius Satellite Radio logo until the company merged with XM in 2009. The dog has a new name — Stella — but a familiar look, and will be integrated into various product marketing campaigns touting SiriusXM’s satellite and streaming radio services.
Programming changes at SiriusXM are relatively rare, mostly due to bandwidth limitations that prevent SiriusXM from adding new channels to its service without replacing some older ones. To that end, the company said it would be dropping some channels and moving others around as it debuts new music channels in the coming weeks.
As part of the changes, SiriusXM said the following channels will move to new homes:
- PopRocks: SXM Channel 6 (formerly SXM Channel 12)
- The Coffee House: SXM Channel 17 (formerly SXM Channel 6)
- The Bridge: SXM Channel 27 (formerly SXM Channel 17)
- Heart & Soul: SXM Channel 47 (formerly SXM Channel 48)
- SiriusXM Fly: SXM Channel 50 (formerly SXM Channel 47)
- The Groove: SXM Channel 51 (formerly SXM Channel 50)
- BPM: SXM Channel 52 (formerly SXM Channel 51)
- Diplo’s Revolution: SXM Channel 53 (formerly SXM Channel 52)
- SiriusXM Chill: SXM Channel 55 (formerly SXM Channel 53)
- Elvis Radio: SXM Channel 76 (formerly SXM Channel 75)
- B.B. King’s Bluesville: SXM Channel 75 (formerly SXM Channel 74)
- Symphony Hall: SXM Channel 78 (formerly SXM Channel 76)
- Bloomberg Radio: SXM Channel 121 (formerly SXM Channel 119)
- Disney Hits: SXM Channel 133 (formerly SXM Channel 302)
- Kids Place Live: SXM Channel 134 (formerly SXM Channel 78)
- Kids Bop Radio: SXM Channel 135 (formerly SXM Channel 79)
- Moonbug Radio: SXM Channel 136 (formerly SXM Channel 307)
- Holy Culture Radio: SXM Channel 140 (formerly SXM Channel 154)
- Caliente: SXM Channel 152 (formerly SXM Channel 151)
- Aguila: SXM Channel 153 (formerly SXM Channel 322)
- En Vivo: SXM Channel 154 (formerly SXM Channel 152)
- Deep Tracks: SXM Channel 308 (formerly SXM Channel 27)
These SiriusXM channels have new names:
- Pure Comedy: SiriusXM Channel 98 (formerly Laugh USA)
- Raw Comedy: SXM Channel 99 (formerly Raw Dog Comedy)
- Conan O’Brien Radio: SXM Channel 104 (formerly Team Coco Radio)
And these channelss are debuting on SiriusXM satellite radio for the first time:
- The Flow: SiriusXM Channel 48
- Flex2K: SiriusXM Channel 49
- Latin Vault: SiriusXM Channel 155
- Alt2K: SiriusXM Channel 313
