SiriusXM continued to face pressure from free and premium streaming audio services in the first quarter of the year (Q1).
The satellite and streaming audio provider earned $204 million in net income on revenue of $2.04 billion during the first three months of 2025. Both items were down on a year-over basis, with 15 percent lower net income and 4 percent lower overall revenue.
The company lost 303,000 SiriusXM satellite and streaming radio subscribers during the quarter — it doesn’t break out satellite and streaming subscriber counts separately, but it was the first full three month-period since SiriusXM executed on a strategy to increase its focus on lucrative, in-car subscribers over younger customers who are more-accustom to streaming.
Average revenue per user — the amount of money SiriusXM earns from each individual customer, after certain expenses are factored out — dropped 3 percent to $14.86.
Late last year, SiriusXM announced a new tiered pricing scheme for its flagship satellite radio service that sees new customers pay $10 per month for ad-free music channels, with the option to tack on news, entertainment and sports channels for separate monthly fees. Its streaming service continues to use an “all-in” pricing scheme that includes more than 450 linear channels as well as on-demand access to shows, podcasts and music content powered by its Pandora technology for the same $10 per month.
While few of the company’s financials looked great, SiriusXM executives said they are in a better position than most to navigate through a period of economic turbulence brought on by the likelihood of tariffs and the near-certainty of trade wars.
Since its product is a service, and not a commodity, and nearly all of it is produced in the U.S., SiriusXM is more-immune than others from the effects of macroeconomic and geopolitical issues that are afflicting other media companies, executives assured.
“Our strong, recurring revenue-driven business positions us well in this period of heightened volatility,” Tom Barry, SiriusXM Chief Finanicial Officer, said in a statement on Thursday.
Historically, SiriusXM’s ability to add and retain subscribers has been linked to sales of new and used cars with its hardware tuners installed. For now, Barry said the company does not “anticipate that tariff-related pressure on new car sales will have a material impact on our subscriber or financial performance this year.”
“That said, like every business, we’ll continue to closely monitor ongoing developments and broader consumer health,” Barry noted.
Some of SiriusXM’s ad-heavy products, like Pandora, are already experiencing the effects of those macroeconomic concerns. Pandora and SiriusXM’s off-platform business earned $487 million during the year, down 2 percent. Ad revenue associated with Pandora and other platforms was $355 million, also down 2 percent.
