Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, Sirius XM, the online
Speaker 1: radio service, says it's focused on growth off for its
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five forecasts missed Expectations. That was back in December.
Speaker 1: Now bloem megs Ed Ludlow just caught up with the
Speaker 1: CEO Jennifer Witz at CES and began with a discussion
Speaker 1: on AI implementation.
Speaker 2: In some ways, I think we're the ANTIAI in terms
Speaker 2: of in terms of content creation and curation, right, So,
Speaker 2: you know, we pride ourselves on the hosts and the
Speaker 2: programmers that we have, the people that actually put together
Speaker 2: the channels and the shows. It's the voices you hear
Speaker 2: every day on your commute that really drive that intimacy
Speaker 2: that audio offers. In the connection where we will leverage
Speaker 2: AI is in some respects where others have used it
Speaker 2: as well to provide better discovery and personalization. Right, So
Speaker 2: we hope that our programmers can really curate an experience
Speaker 2: to help you find what you love, but also the
Speaker 2: technology of AI can create more personalization in our marketing,
Speaker 2: in the product itself in terms of recommendations to enhance
Speaker 2: that even more. And of course there's lots of other
Speaker 2: benefits for AI in terms of cost reduction and more
Speaker 2: efficiencies in the business.
Speaker 3: Overall, this is Bloomberg. So let's talk some business. Last month,
Speaker 3: you basically said this is our revenue outlook for twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five, and investors, for whatever reason, we're disappointed. You
Speaker 3: also said that you're going to cut costs run your business.
Speaker 3: How is the cost costing going and what were the
Speaker 3: facts that I guess if you accept that the revenue
Speaker 3: output was not what your investors want to see, what
Speaker 3: were the factors behind it being what it was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we're very focused on supporting the top line
Speaker 2: and the two aspects of our business that we've talked
Speaker 2: about subscription and advertising, and we have opportunities to continue
Speaker 2: to grow there and drive improvements to that part of
Speaker 2: our business. But we're really focused on the subscription side
Speaker 2: on what we do best audio first and in the car,
Speaker 2: because that's where we've proven that we can really be
Speaker 2: successful and that's where radio is very successful. In our
Speaker 2: ads business, we talked about where we're adding in terms
Speaker 2: of podcasts and other content to build out that portfolio,
Speaker 2: and yes, cost reduction will be increasingly important as we
Speaker 2: move forward. As we want to sustain our industry leading margins,
Speaker 2: and on top of that, we also have significant free
Speaker 2: cash flow generation right and as we get to our
Speaker 2: target leverage ratio, we'll be able to increasingly return capital
Speaker 2: and shareholders, whether it's through our dividend or through show
Speaker 2: repurchases as well.
Speaker 3: I think I'm right in saying this is your first
Speaker 3: CES in about five years. That's right, it's packed. There
Speaker 3: is an intense focus on the exhibitors AI. I would
Speaker 3: also say there are lots of questions about what twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five is going to be like, in particular because
Speaker 3: we have a new administration that will come into our
Speaker 3: office this month. How is serious extent preparing for that?
Speaker 3: Do you see if being a factor to people that
Speaker 3: listen to audio in America? This year?
Speaker 2: We have a really diverse set of content, and I
Speaker 2: think one of the things we saw during the election
Speaker 2: is an increase in news and politics content consumption, which
Speaker 2: is probably not surprising, but it just speaks to the
Speaker 2: overall bundle and that we have something for everyone at
Speaker 2: any given time depending on what's going on, and also
Speaker 2: the value of live linear when something important is going on.
Speaker 2: So I think you know that's going to continue to
Speaker 2: be a focus for us. And then you know there
Speaker 2: are things like you know, people are focused on tariffs
Speaker 2: and taxes and what happens with the auto business. But
Speaker 2: you know, we feel really good about our position in
Speaker 2: terms of our availability across the spectrum of auto manufacturers,
Speaker 2: being a lot of meetings with the OEMs while we're here,
Speaker 2: in addition to advertisers, and I think we feel good.
Speaker 2: December was a great month for auto sales, so hopefully
Speaker 2: that's an indication of what's going to come in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five. Strong auto market is great for our business.
Speaker 1: Serious XM CEO Jennifer Witz.
Speaker 2: There