SiriusXM
SIRI
recently announced extension of its broadcasting deal with radio personality, Howard Stern. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Per the deal, Howard Stern will continue to produce and host
The Howard Stern Show
exclusively for SiriusXM for the next five years.
Moreover, Stern’s archive of audio and video will continue to be licensed to SiriusXM for seven years after the contract ends through 2032.
The latest broadcast agreement is in line with SiriusXM’s strategy of collaborating with artists and organizations in order to expand its content portfolio. This is also helping it to compete with music streaming giant
Spotify
SPOT
that had been the other option for Stern given its growing podcast business.
Partnerships Stoke Top-Line Growth
Notably, the expansion of the satellite broadcasting agreement with The National Football League to include additional streaming rights this 2020 season boosted audience growth for SiriusXM. For the first time, the company’s customers with the streaming-only SiriusXM Premier subscription had access to every live NFL game as well as the exclusive 24/7 talk channel, SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Such broadcasting effort has greatly strengthened SiriusXM’s offerings, which are expected to help it in acquiring more subscribers and boosting top-line growth.
Notably, in third-quarter 2020, SiriusXM generated $1.59 billion from subscriber revenues (78.7% of total revenues), up 2.4% from the year-ago quarter. Moreover, the company’s SiriusXM and Pandora segments added 169K and 105K net self-pay subscribers, respectively.
The company expects this trend to continue in the near term as it increased its pro-forma revenue guidance for full-year 2020 to $7.85 billion, compared with its previous guidance of $7.7 billion.
Expanding Subscriber Base to Boost Revenues
SiriusXM’s shares have declined 7.6% year to date compared with the Zacks
Broadcast Radio and Television
industry’s growth of 28%.
The underperformance can be attributed to coronavirus-led disruption over advertising spending. Notably, in third-quarter 2020, advertisement revenues (17% of total revenues) declined 5.7% year over year to $345 million
Year-to-Date Performance
Nevertheless, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is expected to benefit from subscriber base expansion owing to a strong content portfolio. You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
On Oct 28, SiriusXM announced the availability of 17 ad-free channels including a new channel, Jolly Christmas, as well as the much-anticipated Holly and Holiday Traditions channels for the upcoming holiday season.
SiriusXM announced the completion of the Stitcher acquisition on Oct 19. It has released the public beta of its newly redesigned mobile apps for Android and iOS alongside its web-based listening platform.
Expanded podcast efforts fit well with the existing advertising-led focus on Pandora and AdsWizz. In fact, the availability of its content on
Amazon
AMZN
Echo devices, Alexa and
Alphabet
’s
GOOGL
Google Assistant is expected to expand subscriber base further.
These content additions are expected to drive the subscriber base. Markedly, on Sep 9, the company announced that it is increasing its 2020 guidance for SiriusXM self-pay subscriber net additions to approximately 700K from the prior guidance of more than 500K.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don’t buy now, you may kick yourself in 2021.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report