The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) is firing back at a marketing piece distributed by SiriusXM, which criticizes radio and openly questions why people still listen to AM/FM.
SiriusXM touts its ad-free music channels and expansive selection of news, talk, sports, and entertainment to lure customers into subscribing. According to the RAB, AM/FM radio reaches 218 million weekly listeners compared to 34 million subscribers for SiriusXM. Radio.
Inside Radio said that the RAB criticized SiriusXM’s latest earnings report, which they told reinforces that radio is still the undisputed champion in market share.
“In the case of SiriusXM, when taking a look at their most recent earnings report, it’s no wonder their strategy was to go after the undisputed leader in the audio space, AM/FM broadcast radio,” the RAB email says, adding that the satcaster included “no rationale for their leading question.”
Consultant and broadcaster Fred Jacobs reacted to the alleged attack piece by publishing a blog post titled “Memo To Radio: The Gloves Are Off.”
“Howard Stern may be the most high profile of broadcast radio people who defected to Sirius and XM,” Jacobs wrote. “But behind the scenes, many of the programming people and personalities working for SXM first made their names in radio on the AM and FM bands.”
The RAB said radio will always be viable because it’s free and widely available.
“No other media offers this to consumers for free. The reality is quite simple, time spent with AM/FM radio is time well spent,” the RAB added.
