Satellite Radio Accounts for 3.5% of U.S. Radio Listening

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Satellite Radio Accounts for 3.5% of U.S. Radio Listening

7:00 am on March 14, 2007 | Category: Business, Wireless Technology

If satellite radio giants, XM and Sirius get regulatory approval for their pending merger they will account for just under 3.5% of American radio listening, according to a fall 2006 survey by Arbitron.

This study, which was conducted in the the backdrop of ongoing merger rumors, marks the first time that satellite radio audiences have been quantified in comparison to the total radio audience. Around 5.6% of the survey’s respondents said they had listened to satellite radio at some time, which marks significant growth for the market as a whole.

There was some good news for the terrestrial broadcasting industry as well, however, in the finding that satellite listeners tend to be much more frequent users of radio in general. On average, they listen to 33 hours per week of programming, including 14 hours of AM/FM content, 10 hours and 45 minutes of satellite radio, and 8 hours and 15 minutes of internet audio.