Although Sirius Satellite Radio says it’s the market leader for the third consecutive month, at 58% market share for satellite radio products according to the NPD Group, it’s losing more money when compared to the same time last year.
Sirius reported a net loss of $237.8 million for the second quarter; that compares to $177.5 million for the same period a year ago.
The company cited increased customer care costs for a larger subscriber base, as well as higher marketing and licensing costs related to new programming.
Total revenue for the quarter increased to $150.1 million; that’s compared to $52.2 million for Q2 of 2005.
Subscriber Acquisition Costs dropped from $172 to $122 per person.
Citing strong demand overall for the satellite radio market category, company President/CEO Mel Karmazin predicted that would continue in the years to come, saying, “We have accomplished a lot in the a few years but the big growth lies ahead.”
Sirius added 600,460 subscribers in the fourth quarter, compared to 398,012 For XM. Sirius ended the quarter with 4.6 million customers while XM is at 6.8 million.
Sirius has revised its year-end subscriber projections upward to 6.3 million, previously, it projected ending the year with 6.2 million subscribers.
XM last week lowered its year-end subscriber projections to between 8.2 and 7.7 million.
Sirius Q2 Loss Widens; Raises Subscriber Projections
Sirius Q2 Loss Widens; Raises Subscriber Projections