SIRIUS MAY CHARGE PLENTY FOR HOWARD STERN AD SPACE Greg Levine – Forbes Sirius Satellite Radio must have some set of receivers.
After all, Sirius is almost dwarfed by XM Satellite Radio--at last count, Sirius had 1.8 million subscribers compared to XM's 4.4 million--but the smaller of the industry's leaders often seems brasher and scrappier.
Led by radio-savvy Chief Executive Mel Karmazin, Sirius is reportedly asking top dollar and beyond for the fecund advertising space that'll blossom upon Howard Stern's vaunted arrival in January.
Stern is currently keeping the airwaves raunchy at Infinity Broadcasting, a unit of Karmazin's old Viacom stomping grounds. But according to an online report by AdAge, Sirius sales execs are already pumping up the prices on prospective ad slots for when the salty raconteur switches to the orbital broadcaster.
The report states that one buyer said he was pitched a $20,000 price for a live read on Stern's upcoming program. That is said to be near the same price for advertising on his show currently--a show with an estimated 6 million to 7 million weekly listeners. Sirius projects that it will have 3 million subscribers by year's end. The report says Sirius declined to comment on prospective ad prices for the self-styled "master of all media."
Sirius does plan to draw on a nationwide well of sponsors for such high-profile properties as its NFL broadcasts and Martha Stewart's eponymous channel, slated to start in September. |