A little more than a year after it acquired Pandora, SiriusXM is finally considering bundling it with its satellite radio service.
At the moment, there are scant details about how the company might package the two services. All the company is saying is that it is testing various cross-promotions aimed at those who are either customers of SiriusXM or Pandora. They are further testing different price points for these promotions, to see what consumers find most attractive.
Chris Phillips, who is the chief product officer of SiriusXM/Pandora and also its head of Technology, told TechCrunch the following: “We would email our Pandora listener base or the SiriusXM listener base — we would test it with different user bases as a promotion. We actually have a formal study going on to do it.”
Phillips went on to say, “The power of the Sirius brand and power of the Pandora brand are very distinct. And people see unique value in the two.”
An interesting challenge that the company faces is that the average consumer does not know that SiriusXM owns Pandora.
Because of this, many customers have been confused as to why they are receiving promotional emails offering them a deal on the other service.
A Twitter user named SoTrumpie tweeted the following: “I’m still genuinely confused by @SIRIUSXM trying to bundle a Pandora subscription into my plan with them. Isn’t Pandora a direct competitor? Can someone explain?”
This confusion has led some to speculate that the company might one day merge the brands. When asked about this, Phillips answered that his company was looking at the possibilities that may exist.
But he also added that, for the time being, “We are cross-pollinating content and features.” For example, a SiriusXM user can now launch a Pandora station from the SiriusXM app without having to launch Pandora separately.