Just Under 9000 New Listeners

8  2014-10-13 by phlammo

Has anyone ever stopped to ask how Sirius would even give Opie his per-channel listener stats?

The vast majority of satellite radios installed are in people's cars. Satellite radio is a broadcast technology. Radios in cars can tune into the signal being broadcast, but cars do not send back any signal to these satellites informing them of what the user is listening to because radios don't have the ability to transmit that kind of information to space, then back to the Sirius super-computers.

So what could they do? They survey a sampling of subscribers, and ask those that they can get ahold of what they're listening to. Then they multiply that across the total subscriber base ... many of whom either don't use their radios that often, don't realize they're still paying for satellite radio, or know they have it but leave it on Howard100 full-time.

Just under 9,000 new listeners?

In January, Sirius stated they have 25.56 million subscribers. 9,000 listeners is a 0.035% change in that subscriber base. It's a rounding-error. A non-existent change. And it's also an estimate extrapolated on projecting a small sample-set of listeners across your entire subscriber base. And remember how the vast majority of Sirius radios are found in automobiles? The past few months have shown very strong auto sales. Lots of new cars means lots of new three-month "subscribers" to Sirius.

Any way you look at the numbers, it's a bullshit estimate that actually should have risen WAY more than 9,000 to stay in-line with all the new subscribers being added to the platform.

9,000 isn't a good change. It's actually quite bad.

31 comments

18  jags85 2014-10-13

Theres no way Opie is even going to consider any of those points. It's his reputation solely on the line now. Anything negative is just dismissed, and anything positive is blindly accepted.

10  [deleted] 2014-10-13

He said the company likes the way the show sounds, so...

6  [deleted] 2014-10-13

maybe they got new mics

1  [deleted] 2014-10-13

That was exactly what I was thinking. He worded that so specifically.

14  fart_yourself_awake 2014-10-13

9k people signed up for the XL package or whatever it is. That could be howard, opie, or whatever else they offer.

10  Lasagna_Hat 2014-10-13

I thought it was because of Joel Osteen

10  TheMonkfish 2014-10-13

He's an admitted math savant, is classically trained in studying people and has the street smarts of a candy kid. I have no doubt that these numbers are dead on the money.

By the way, did he ever thank Ant publicly for giving him a career in front of a microphone?

6  wizardnug 2014-10-13

If there are 9000 new listeners, there are 90000 who stopped listening.

4  mancubuss 2014-10-13

Couldn't it be too that 12k left in August, and 9k came back?

6  breadmoccasin 2014-10-13

No.

4  gsbird1065 2014-10-13

I'm sure the numbers are what he says they are, but it's obvious that Opie is taking a victory lap for something that probably has nothing to do with his and Jim's show.

6  DiscoInferiorityComp 2014-10-13

"Hey, I heard your company went bankrupt, you stupid idiot!"  
"Bankrupt?  That's not true at all.  In fact, we made a nice profit last month."
"Way to take a victory lap, you stupid idiot!"

3  gsbird1065 2014-10-13

What are you quoting?

5  DiscoInferiorityComp 2014-10-13

It's a fake conversation that shows how utterly unfair it is to describe what Opie wrote as "a victory lap". "Your audience is fucking gone. Move to greener fucking pastures. Do something creative." That's what Opie wrote his "actually, the audience grew by 9,000 subscribers" comment in reply to. He's not gloating about a four-figure increase in listeners. It's more of a "see? people are still tuning in" comment.

1  gsbird1065 2014-10-13

Oh, I see. I only read Opie's tweet and thought he was making an announcement. Thanks!

3  Ptone79 2014-10-13

They used to trash Howard for doing that.

3  BumbiBestie 2014-10-13

He could mean that Opie Radio has 9,000 listeners online because it replaced the Opie & Anthony channel. 0 + 9,000 = 9,000

1  alexreleases 2014-10-13

That thing about the new cars is true, I know five people who got new cars this year and currently have complimentary SiriusXM radio packages. None of them are renewing.

2  andrewsj1 2014-10-13

Do the free trials cine with the premium stations though?

3  vxsarin 2014-10-13

yes

1  [deleted] 2014-10-13

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2  [deleted] 2014-10-13

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1  [deleted] 2014-10-13

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1  Ratterrier 2014-10-13

The only real information Mr. Hughs has is the number of subscribers that dropped immediately after Mr. Cumia's firing. Mr. Hugh's tweet offering the newfound listener numbers was a response to a dreaded hater. Perhaps his tweet was a lash out at haters by turning the number of cancellations into the number of his and only his new fans.

2  marsgamingchannel 2014-10-13

Did you write this comment in crayon?

1  marsgamingchannel 2014-10-13

First off the dipshit has been lying about being able to see his numbers for years. Second, I am betting this number is the people who resubscribed after canceling when Ant left.

1  chippersonlyle 2014-10-13

He has complained for years that they never share sub numbers with him, now we are supposed to believe they decided to start sharing them with him?

1  AntsCamera 2014-10-13

AAHHHHHH-CHOOOO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVmS7a07mXA

1  thecoach32 2014-10-13

I don't believe the 9000 new subscribers comment but they do sell advertising on the show so they've got to be able to somewhat approximate numbers of listeners to give to advertisers, right?

1  Results_Matter 2014-10-13

Opie is full of shit and Jim needs a paycheck. That's all!

-1  RandyCool 2014-10-13

If the stats are true...... big "if"....... could it be that old fans, who long forgot about Opie and Anthony, signed up after the big story surrounding Anthony's firing?

1  [deleted] 2014-10-13

No.

They have ways of pumping up the numbers.

-6  Opesterfan 2014-10-13

Just when you thought this sub can't get any more pathetic...

2  breadmoccasin 2014-10-13

....You come in, and make ANOTHER post! YAYYYY! :)