SiriusXM has announced a new lower-cost, ad-supported subscription tier entitled SiriusXM Play that will include a limited suite of channels for under $7 per month.
SiriusXM play will carry versions of some of SiriusXM’s music channels with commercials including Hits 1, The Highway, Hip Hop Nation, Classic Rewind, 80s on 8, and 90s on 9 as well as many of the platform’s News, Talk, Comedy, and Sports channels including Mad Dog Sports Radio, POTUS, Patriot, Radio Andy, Conan O’Brien Radio, Kevin Hart’s LOL Radio, and Comedy Central Radio.
SiriusXM COO Wayne Thorsen said, “SiriusXM Play presents us with an incredible opportunity to thoughtfully scale our audio service on the road and off to even more listeners across North America. With Play, we can reach and engage with new, more price-sensitive listeners with a low-cost, ad-supported subscription with more than 130 channels available in-car and so much more in-app, and leverage our strengths across both content and technology as the premium audio leader in-car to deliver this compelling offering to consumers and advertisers alike.”
SiriusXM Play is currently available of a limited basis with full package pricing and details to be revealed later this year. The tier will include full access to the SiriusXM app with the company’s complete catalog of live and on-demand content as well as Artist Stations and podcasts.
SiriusXM states that the launch of Play “allows marketers to tap into SiriusXM’s premium, curated music programming and unlock its highly passionate subscriber base in an intimate environment with few distractions: the car. Offering about half the ad load of traditional AM/FM radio at launch, SiriusXM Play gives marketers the ability to deliver powerful audio ads with fewer interruptions and reach an engaged, leaned-in consumer”. It intends to add additional capabilities such as enhanced targeting, dynamic ad insertion, creative channel takeover packages, and measurement tools across SiriusXM’s ad inventory in its 360L-enabled vehicles.
Chie Advertising Revenue Officer Scott Walker said, “Play is an exciting net-new opportunity for marketers looking to tap into passionate, high-quality audiences across some of SiriusXM’s most beloved music, talk, and sports channels, reaching listeners in the moments that matter. The car is the final frontier for digital ad-supported media. In the short term, we are opening up new inventory for marketers, including premium, curated music. In the long term, with more advanced capabilities, we have a chance to revolutionize the in-car advertising landscape.”
The full channel lineup for SiriusXM Play is available here.
Brandon Charles
This is very smart, strategically, but as per usual with sirius if you do some digging, you end up finding out that if you got a package like this, you’d ultimately be getting ripped off. I pay 80 a year, no ads, full lineup. If you do the math, unless they do a year bundle, they’re paying more for less. Even though I am a full subscriber, the nerd and me is interested in the rollout and how it actually sounds, this will make the dynamic ad market quite interesting.