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Satellite Radio Attracts a Few Good Men - Very, Very Few
Houston – (5/6/05) – In 87 metropolitan markets with a collective adult
population of 137,478,000,
satellite radio has attracted a mostly male audience of just 681,000 or 0.5
percent of all adults in the
87 markets surveyed by The Media Audit.
From a total sample of 117,737 respondents, only 571 adults (age 18 +) said
they listened to satellite
radio at least once in the past seven days (7-day cumulative). “We were
surprised at how little market
penetration has been achieved by satellite radio,” says Bob Jordan,
president of International
Demographics, Inc., a 34-year-old market research firm which produces The
Media Audit.
Some Surprising Demographics
“The demographic profile of the satellite audience is most certainly
affluent and well educated,” says
Jordan, “but the absence of significant market penetration also shows up in
the demographics. More
than 73 percent of all satellite listeners had household incomes of $50,000
or more, but that 73
percent represents only 0.8 of all households with incomes of $50,000 or
more.” Approximately 63
percent of satellite listeners are men and 55 percent have at least one
college degree.
Satellite radio is not another technology that penetrates the 18 – 34 age
market. Quite the contrary,
The Media Audit surveys found that 76.1 percent of all adult listeners are
35+ and 48.5 percent are
45+.
More than 29 percent of satellite listeners fall into the
proprietor/managerial classification and 17.3
percent fit the professional/technical category. “Surprisingly,” says
Jordan, “16.6 percent are blue
collar workers and 11.0 percent are retired.
In the 87 markets surveyed by The Media Audit, satellite radio attracted
only 10,000 or more adults in
just 20 of the 87 markets surveyed. The largest number attracted, 76,000 was
in New York City which
is a market of more than 14 million adults. “The penetration in New York
City was just one half of one
percent,” says Jordan. Satellite only pulled one percent or more of the
adults in just six markets and
in no market did it attract two percent.
Satellite Projections & Current Radio Numbers
According to a recent Forrester Research study, satellite radio will have 20
million listeners by 2010.
Jordan says “that even that number seems disappointing. Satellite has a
large number of formats and
Forrester’s 20 million projection represents the combined draw of all the
formats. Compare that
projection to the News-Talk format (NTK) in traditional radio that draws
more than 19 million listeners
just in the 87 markets covered by The Media Audit’s latest surveys. Clear
Channel stations in the
same 87 markets attract more than 48 million listeners and Infinity has more
than 35 million.”
Jordan thinks the two primary problems faced by satellite radio are cost and
lack of portability.
“Satellite radio is competing with a product that is distributed free, and
that’s a heck of a price
disadvantage,” he says, “The portability issue may be solved, but making
satellite portable is the easy
part. Building the audience and selling their numbers is the tough part.”
The Data Source
The Media Audit, a syndicated media ratings service currently covering more
than 80 metropolitan
markets, provides qualitative data for media web sites as well as for
traditional media.
Traditional media – print, broadcast and outdoor – have used The Media Audit
data in sales,
marketing and management for more than 34 years. In 1998, the survey started
providing data on
local media web sites. The surveys now contain more than 400 fields of
qualitative information in
addition to quantitative measurements of local web audiences.
Note: If you would like to periodically receive news releases containing
market survey data from
The Media Audit, please contact us by email
(info@TheMediaAudit.com) and
leave your
name, title, company affiliation and email address.
The Media Audit
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
International Demographics, Inc.
CONTACT: Robert Jordan
(713) 626-0333
10333 Richmond Avenue, Suite 200
Houston, Texas 77042
1-800-324-9921
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