Satellite Radio Demographics: 76 User Facts & Numbers [2023]

We tale a close look at the demographics of satellite radio users, including their age, gender, income level, and listening habits.

Understanding the characteristics of this growing community can help businesses and marketers better target their advertising and tailor their programming to appeal to specific demographics.

Quick Demographic Facts About Satellite Radio

• Satellite radio has a wide reach across different generations, with 80.5 million listeners tuning in each month among Generation X (ages 35-54), reaching 97% of the Gen X population.
• Millennials (18-34 year olds) are also avid satellite radio listeners, with 71.6 million listeners tuning in monthly, amounting to 95% of the Millennial population.
• SiriusXM Holdings, a leading name in satellite radio, had an annual revenue of over 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.
• In November 2018, Pandora, a popular satellite radio platform, had nearly 6.2 million paying subscribers worldwide.
• Spotify, another major player in the satellite radio industry, had 96 million subscribers globally at the end of 2018.

The demographics of satellite radio listeners show a strong presence across different age groups, highlighting the widespread popularity of this audio platform.

This is quite different from the demographics of radio news listeners.

Age Demographics

Radio continues to maintain a large audience across various age groups. Different generations show varied levels of radio listenership:

• Generation X (ages 35-54) has the highest reach, with 80.5 million listeners tuning in during an average month, which constitutes 97% of the Gen X population.
• Millennials (18-34-year-olds) follow closely, with 71.6 million listeners tuning in monthly, which is 95% of the Millennial population.
• Among the age group 18-34, approximately 66.8 million people in the U.S. listened to radio weekly in the first quarter of 2018.
• In the 35-49 age bracket, nearly 59.6 million adults listened to radio each month, reaching 94% of people in this age group.
• For adults aged 50 and older, nearly 114.9 million listened to radio each month.

In recent years, the landscape of radio consumption has seen a shift due to the impact of satellite radio providers. SiriusXM, a leading satellite radio provider in North America, had an annual revenue of over 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.

The data highlights the continued popularity of radio among various age demographics, demonstrating its ability to reach a substantial portion of the population across different age groups.

Check the demographics here of Fox news’ audience.

Gender Demographics

Satellite radio is utilized by different age and gender demographics in the US. Focusing on gender, we can analyze the reach of radio in the country, based on the available data.

• In a survey from March 2020, only 6% of male respondents were found listening to live sports via satellite radio daily in the United States.
• During an average week in June 2021, radio reached 88.1% of all American men aged between 35 and 64 years.
• Generation X (ages 35-54) has the largest radio reach, with 80.5 million listeners tuning in during an average month, which is 97% of the Gen X population.
• Millennials (18-34 year olds) also have a significant radio reach with 71.6 million listeners tuning in every month, which represents 95% of the Millennial population.
• For adults aged 25-54, 123.6 million (99%) of the population listens to the radio each month.

While these numbers do not present an exhaustive summary of satellite radio’s gender demographics, they provide valuable insight into the steady reach of radio across different age groups and genders in the United States.

Ethnicity Demographics

• The most prevalent racial or ethnic group for the United States was the White alone non-Hispanic population at 57.8%. This decreased from 63.7% in 2010.
• The Black or African American resident population totaled 44.83 million people in the same year.

Understanding ethnicity demographics is crucial when examining the audience for satellite radio services such as SiriusXM. Since the United States has an increasingly diverse population:

• Satellite radio providers should ensure that their content offerings cater to a broad range of racial and ethnic groups, providing varied entertainment options and cultural experiences

Demographic Breakdown Per State

The demographic breakdown of satellite radio listeners varies between states in the United States. Some key takeaways from different states include:

• In California, there are 39,538,223 residents, showing a 6.1% increase since 2010. The demographic most likely to listen to satellite radio in this state is Generation X (35-54-year-olds) with 80.5 million listeners tuning in monthly.
• Colorado experienced significant growth in its population, reaching 5,773,714 residents in 2020, marking an increase of 10% from 2010. Satellite radio listenership in this state is also dominated by Generation X and Millennials (18-34-year-olds), with 71.6 million listeners tuning in monthly.
• Across the United States, the audience for terrestrial radio remains high, with 83% of Americans aged 12 or older listening to radio in a given week in 2020. In terms of satellite radio listeners, Generation X and Millennials account for the majority, representing 97% and 95% of their respective populations.

Given this data, it is evident that satellite radio listeners are generally concentrated among the Generation X and Millennials demographic groups, with both generations maintaining strong interest in the medium.

Other Interesting Facts About Satellite Radio

• Satellite radio uses the 2.3 GHz S band in North America for nationwide digital radio broadcasting.
• In other parts of the world, satellite radio uses part of the 1.4 GHz L band allocated for DAB.
• Satellite radio offers a much clearer signal and greater dynamic range than conventional radio.
• The sound quality of satellite radio often approaches that of compact discs (CDs).
• Services typically offer a hundred or more channels, including music, news, talk, and sports.
• Many satellite radio channels are free of advertising.
• SiriusXM Holdings is a leading name in the satellite radio industry in North America.
• SiriusXM’s annual revenue exceeded 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.
• In November 2018, Pandora’s worldwide paying subscribers were estimated to be just under 6.2 million.
• In 2018, Spotify had 96 million subscribers globally.
• In 2020, SiriusXM had approximately 34 million subscribers in North America.
• SiriusXM offers over 175 channels of commercial-free music.
• SiriusXM offers over 300 channels of live sports, news, and entertainment.
• SiriusXM offers specialized programming for Howard Stern, NFL, MLB, and NASCAR.
• SiriusXM offers coverage of most major sports, including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and college sports.
• SiriusXM offers news coverage from CNN, Fox News, CNBC, and other major news outlets.
• SiriusXM offers various talk shows, including those hosted by Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, and others.
• SiriusXM offers comedy programming from stand-up comedians and comedy channels.
• The subscription price for SiriusXM ranges from $10.99 to $21.99 per month.
• XM Radio was founded in 1988 and launched the first satellite radio service in 2001.
• Sirius Satellite Radio was founded in 1990 and launched its service in 2002.
• XM and Sirius merged in 2008 to become SiriusXM Holdings.
• SiriusXM offers satellite radio in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
• SiriusXM has over 8,300 employees as of 2021.
• SiriusXM’s net income was $1.2 billion in 2020.
• SiriusXM’s market capitalization was over $29 billion as of May 2021.
• In 2020, SiriusXM had over 1.1 billion listening hours.
• SiriusXM has partnerships with major car manufacturers, including Ford, General Motors, and Toyota.
• Satellite radio is available in more than 100 million vehicles in North America.

Satellite radio provides users with diverse programming options, high sound quality, and a great listening experience. These facts highlight the importance of satellite radio in the entertainment industry and indicate its continued growth.

Sources

• https://www.britannica.com/technology/satellite-radio
• https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2019/how-america-listens-the-american-audio-landscape/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/303185/number-sirius-xm-satellite-radio-pay-subscribers-us/
• https://www.statista.com/topics/1795/siriusxm/
• https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219
• http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/how-america-listens-the-american-audio-landscape.html
• https://www.statista.com/topics/4770/siriusxm/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/1064309/weekly-radio-listeners-us-by-demographic
• https://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/audio-and-podcasting/
• https://www.newsgeneration.com/broadcast-resources/radio-facts-and-figures/
• https://data.census.gov
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/183489/population-of-the-us-by-ethnicity-since-2000/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_radio
• https://www.statista.com/topics/1481/sirius-xm/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/267746/number-of-paying-subscribers-of-sirius-xm-holdings/