SiriusXM Posts Q3 Income Boost As Self-Pay Subscribers Grow

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SiriusXM posted an almost four percent year-over-year (YoY) revenue improvement for Q3 2022 as an income boost stemming from satellite radio self-pay subscribers helped to offset Pandora’s YoY decrease in the same category as well as monthly active users (MAUs).

SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) just recently unveiled its financials for July, August, and September of 2022. According to the breakdown, the New York City-headquartered company generated a total of $2.28 billion during the three-month stretch, up approximately 3.73 percent from Q3 2021.

But with operating expenses having climbed to $1.81 billion in this year’s third quarter, SiriusXM likewise reported a roughly 28 percent YoY dip in net income, which is said to have come in at $247 million. Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA increased slightly YoY to $720 million, the document shows.

On the satellite radio front, SiriusXM said that it boasted 34.17 million subscribers at the quarter’s end, which marks a small decrease from Q3 2021.

Within the total, however, the more significant self-pay subscribers grew by 239,000 YoY to crack 32.22 million – though the hike wasn’t enough to offset a 334,000-subscriber decline on the paid-promotional side.

Overall, satellite radio operations brought in $1.74 billion for the publicly traded company during the third quarter (up 4.94 percent YoY), the business disclosed, as subscriber revenue accounted for $1.60 billion in the category.

Regarding expenses, the satellite radio division incurred $391 million in “revenue share and royalties” charges on the quarter (up $13 million YoY), against $131 million for “programming and content” (up $10 million YoY).

The adjacent “Pandora and off-platform” segment, for its part, recorded Q3 2022 revenue of $538 million – nearly identical to the sum delivered by 2021’s third quarter, per the analysis.

The figure reflects $131 million in subscriber revenue (down from $134 million in Q3 2021) and $407 million in advertising income (a $3 million YoY uptick), as Pandora’s self-pay premium users slipped by 185,000 YoY to 6.27 million.

Notably, “Pandora and off-platform” MAUs, including the aforesaid subscribers, fell by 3.85 million from the identical window in 2021, the resource shows, resting at 48.77 million as of September 30th. Consequently, higher-ups identified 2.75 billion “listener hours” attributable to ad-supported users, down from 2.89 billion hours in Q3 2021.

Pandora’s own revenue share and royalties expenditure finished at $318 million in Q3 (up 8.53 percent YoY), according to the report, against a modestly heightened $15 million spent on programming and content.

When the market closed today, SiriusXM stock was worth $6.09 per share, down about 1.30 percent during the past five trading days. As of July 31st, Liberty Media owned approximately 3.21 billion of the shares, or north of 80 percent of the entity.

Separately, Liberty also possesses almost one-third of Live Nation, which revealed its earnings today and is poised to offer a presentation during Liberty’s investor meeting on Thursday, November 17th.

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