SiriusXM will offer an ad-supported subscription plan at a lower price, to accommodate price-sensitive listeners. (Currently, all music channels are offered ad free).
The new tier will most likely fall in the “high single digit” price range, announced the company earlier this month.
The plan is being tested and should ramp up later this year. Its aim is to entice some of the trial listeners who don’t sign up to become a paid subscriber.
The plan will offer, “a compelling subset of our music and talk programming,” said the company.
The ad-supported tier will roll out from the start in almost 100 million vehicles already on the road.
CEO Jennifer Witz said 80 percent of time spent listening in the car is on AM/FM radio and SiriusXM (for drivers 35 years and older). “So we have a real opportunity to take share with the right programs and packages.”
Additionally, Witz said SiriusXM is on track to include its newer 360L service in more than half of new cars this year.
