Satellite tv for pc and streaming audio service SiriusXM is rolling out a brand new, lower-priced ad-supported tier, in an obvious effort to compete with companies like Spotify and develop its promoting platform.
The brand new SiriusXM Play will include a “month-to-month worth of lower than $7” and can initially have half the advert load of standard AM/FM radio stations within the US, the corporate mentioned in a press release on Tuesday (July 15).
SiriusXM operates a satellite tv for pc radio service primarily for in-car use, a streaming app, and the SiriusXM Podcast Community. It boasts 160 million customers (inclusive of Pandora and SoundCloud listeners utilizing its app).
The corporate’s present Primary plan provides entry to music, movies and podcasts by way of satellite tv for pc and streaming for $9.99 a month, whereas the All Entry tier moreover provides speak, information and sports activities channels for $24.98 a month.
For now, SiriusXM Play is out there “on a restricted foundation,” with a broader rollout and extra particulars coming within the months forward, the corporate mentioned. It expects the brand new ad-supported tier to be out there to just about 100 million automobiles by the tip of 2025.
SiriusXM COO Wayne Thorsen hinted that the corporate is aiming to take a bigger share of the music streaming market.
“SiriusXM Play presents us with an unbelievable alternative to thoughtfully scale our audio service on the highway and off to much more listeners throughout North America,” he mentioned in a press release.
“With Play, we will attain and have interaction with new, extra price-sensitive listeners with a low-cost, ad-supported subscription with greater than 130 channels out there in-car and a lot extra in-app, and leverage our strengths throughout each content material and expertise because the premium audio chief in-car to ship this compelling providing to customers and advertisers alike.”
“SiriusXM Play presents us with an unbelievable alternative to thoughtfully scale our audio service on the highway and off to much more listeners throughout North America.”
Wayne Thorsen, SiriusXM
A low-cost, ad-supported music tier is one thing that some within the music business have been advocating for – however particularly for music streaming companies, the place ad-supported tiers have to this point been free for subscribers.
“Whereas free tiers appeal to billions of month-to-month customers, their poor contribution to streaming monetization means their main goal is to transform customers into paying subscribers,” Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer mentioned final yr.
Noting that “the value hole between free and paid has gotten wider in mature markets,” Stringer mentioned he hopes that “our companions shut that hole by asking customers utilizing ad-supported companies to moreover pay a modest charge.”
Most lately, talking throughout a Q&A session at Sony Group’s 2025 Enterprise Phase Presentation for buyers final month, Stringer famous that “there hasn’t been an enormous enchancment in ad-supported income in the previous couple of years on these DSP platforms”.
He added: “We’d clearly prefer to see that occur. We want to see the free tier be extra intently checked out by way of whether or not there really was a free tier in a number of the extra mature markets, or whether or not there was a distinct structuring of how we might get income from the free tier, not simply by way of promoting, but additionally by hopefully attempting to persuade the buyer in these tiers to improve to a subscription.”
In the meantime, in this yr’s Music In The Air report, Goldman Sachs threw some weight behind that concept, noting that that “the audio ad-supported streaming mannequin / monetization might must evolve over time because of (i) decrease promoting monetisation upside, (ii) the rising worth hole between the free plans and the premium choices as DSPs increase their premium plan pricing, and (iii) slower subscription development, significantly in DM”.
The report added that “various monetization methods embrace introducing an promoting mild tier for a small cost much like Netflix’s Primary with Advertisements subscription plan, and/or putting additional restrictions on the freemium providing to enhance free to paid conversion”.
The strain to raised monetize free streaming tiers has solely grown within the US over the previous yr, with proof mounting of a slowdown in market development. Knowledge from the Recording Business Affiliation of America (RIAA) launched in March confirmed that recorded music commerce revenues rose simply 3.6% YoY in 2024, barely beating the nation’s inflation charge of round 3%.
“As premium plan pricing continues to enhance, we imagine that the audio ad-supported streaming providing may also must evolve to enhance the monetization of ad-supported customers.”
Goldman Sachs, Music In The Air
And information launched by analysis agency Luminate this week confirmed that on-demand streaming within the US grew 4.6% YoY within the first half of 2025, a lot slower than the 12.6% recorded on the planet exterior the US.
Nonetheless, Spotify and the opposite main music streaming gamers that provide a free tier haven’t launched a month-to-month charge for his or her ad-supported tiers, within the US or wherever else. However SiriusXM’s new product will little doubt be intently watched by the business: If it ends in a spike in new subscriptions, it’ll strengthen the argument that low-cost ad-supported tiers can work.
Within the meantime, SiriusXM is concentrated on taking part in catch-up with music streaming companies on the promoting aspect, the place it has lagged for the easy cause that its music channels have largely been ad-free till now.
The corporate is taking part in up its plans to roll out “superior capabilities” equivalent to enhanced concentrating on, dynamic advert insertions, channel takeover packages, and new measurement instruments for vehicles outfitted with SiriusXM’s 360L audio platform.
“Play is an thrilling net-new alternative for entrepreneurs seeking to faucet into passionate, high-quality audiences throughout a few of SiriusXM’s most beloved music, speak, and sports activities channels, reaching listeners within the moments that matter,” mentioned Scott Walker, SiriusXM’s Chief Promoting Income Officer.
“The automobile is the ultimate frontier for digital ad-supported media. Within the quick time period, we’re opening up new stock for entrepreneurs, together with premium, curated music. In the long run, with extra superior capabilities, we have now an opportunity to revolutionize the in-car promoting panorama.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
