SiriusXM shareholders are undoubtedly celebrating a solid start to 2026, but for those who joined the entirety of the satellite giant’s hour-long Q1 earnings call solely for any word on a possible iHeartMedia merger, it was what went unsaid that may be most telling.
The company reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.09 billion, up 1% year over year, with net income climbing 20% to $245 million and free cash flow more than tripling to $171 million, as the satellite radio and podcast network credited pricing discipline, subscriber retention gains, and a new advertising partnership with YouTube for the quarter’s performance.
The company captured $45 million toward its $100 million 2026 cost savings target during the quarter.
Self-pay net additions were negative 111,000, a 192,000 improvement versus the prior year period, driven in part by companion subscriptions that contributed 124,000 incremental self-pay net additions. First-quarter self-pay churn fell to 1.5%, the lowest in company history, holding steady despite a February price increase. Average revenue per user rose 1% to $14.99.
“We are off to a strong start in 2026, delivering growth in both revenue and profitability while executing with discipline against our strategic priorities,” said SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz. “Our latest proprietary subscriber satisfaction study delivered the highest scores since its inception, reinforcing the strength of our value proposition,” with gains concentrated among Gen X and millennial listeners.
Advertising revenue grew 3% to $407 million for the quarter, with podcasting revenue up 37% year over year. Programmatic demand more than doubled through Google’s DV360. The SiriusXM segment saw advertising revenue decline 10% to $35 million, primarily due to softness in news; the Pandora and Off-Platform segment carried advertising growth, with revenue rising 5% to $372 million.
As for the rumors of merger talks between iHeartMedia and SiriusXM, Witz moved to foreclose any such discussion before opening the floor to questions. “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on rumors, and we ask that you keep today’s questions focused on our operating and financial performance,” she said, adding that the board and management team remain focused on creating long-term shareholder value.
No analyst challenged the boundary, but one particular detail is worth noting: when asked about the status of SiriusXM’s new ad-supported Play tier, how Witz positioned the package took a decidedly different route than calls past.
Responding to a question about Play, she commented that the tier is being used to broaden the top of the funnel and move listeners toward higher-priced packages. “The ads inside of it are today the scale isn’t as significant because, again, we’re using it as a way to market and get customers into higher price packages,” she said, adding that improved in-car addressability, once developed, would eventually benefit Play as well.
This is a divergence from SiriusXM’s last earnings call, where Witz framed the company’s lower-priced tiers as a direct offensive against broadcast radio.
“The vast majority of listening in the car is still to AM/FM,” she said at the time, “and we are opening up new packages, including music-only at $9.99 and low-cost ads at $7 that go squarely off against that AM/FM listening. We think we have more opportunities to take share there.”
Any competitive posture against AM/FM or reference to traditional radio was entirely omitted on Thursday, leaving shareholders to draw their own conclusions.
Most of the call was dedicated to discussing the YouTube partnership announced this month, under which SiriusXM will serve as the exclusive US audio advertising representative for YouTube’s listening-first inventory beginning this fall. Chief Ad Revenue Officer Scott Walker said Google approached SiriusXM after recognizing that massive audio consumption was occurring on its platform without a dedicated sales strategy to capture it.
The partnership will cover ad-supported YouTube Music and the main YouTube app in listening-first contexts, including static and lyric video music streams, Android Auto and CarPlay in-car listening, and long-form podcast and interview content on smart speakers. Walker said programmatic is not part of the partnership at launch but described it as a future opportunity.
Witz added that the deal is expected to be accounted for on a gross basis within the Pandora and Off-Platform segment, consistent with the company’s other advertising representation arrangements. She said the YouTube partnership would not have a material revenue impact in 2026 but flagged 2027 as the meaningful ramp year.
Witz and Chief Financial Officer Zac Coughlin both declined to provide specific take-rate economics, saying the company would offer more detail on the deal’s financial scope when it issues 2027 guidance. Coughlin reaffirmed full-year 2026 guidance for approximately $8.5 billion in revenue.
