SiriusXM Names Scott Walker As Its New Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, Tasked With Expanding Reach and Improving Measurement

Radio and digital audio business SiriusXM named executive Scott Walker as its new chief advertising revenue officer this week, where he will replace John Trimble, who is retiring after 16 years with the company. Walker joined the digital streaming platform Pandora in 2008, which was acquired by SiriusXM in 2019 for $3.5 billion. Before his current role, Walker served as the senior vice president of the ad platform AdsWizz, which powers roughly two-thirds of all audio impressions in the U.S. “I have been with this company for a long time, and the throughline to my experience is my passion for and understanding of the power of audio,” Walker said. “We’ve led the way in the podcasting era, and we plan to continue to invest in the space as it develops into a multichannel platform.” Podcasting has enjoyed a heightened cultural focus in recent months, with many political pundits pointing to the medium and its influence as a key factor in the presidential election. Its expansion into video and social media platforms, while a measurement challenge, has also increased its discoverability and ushered in a new chapter for the medium. Walker assumes the new role at a pivotal time for the company. SiriusXM was spun off from its parent company, Liberty Media, in September, effectively making the audio entertainment firm into an independent public company. It took in around $8.7 billion in total revenue last year, down 3% from 2023. It generated roughly 20% of that revenue—or $1.8 billion—from advertising, with the bulk of its sales coming from its subscription service. The company has around 33 million paying subscribers, although it lost a net 296,000 subscribers in 2024, according to public filings. In 2023, it launched a streaming app that cost $9.99 per month, but the company pivoted its focus away from the product late last year after it failed to gain momentum. Instead, it has redoubled its emphasis on its in-car customers. Expanding reach Walker plans to focus on two core pillars: expanding the company’s reach, and improving its measurement and attribution capabilities. To expand its addressable audience, SiriusXM has two key initiatives. First, it plans to lean into the increasingly multichannel nature of podcasting by expanding its Creator Connect program. This program, which it has spearheaded with programs like Alex Cooper’s Unwell, lets brands sponsor all the spaces where podcast creators engage their audiences, like video and social media. To attract and retain creators, SiriusXM plans to help them monetize their presences across all these surfaces, which in turn could help strengthen its subscription offering, said Walker. The company also has plans to increase its market share by expanding its dominance in the car, and plans to launch a cheaper, ad-supported service to attract price-sensitive consumers. The initiative is in development, with the hope of launching it as soon as the end of this year or 2026. Improving measurement To improve its measurement capabilities, SiriusXM has invested in clean room technology for GroupM clients in partnership with LiveRamp, which has enabled it to provide more accurate audience reach and frequency metrics. Currently, 25% of time spent with media goes to digital audio, but only 8% of media spending is allocated to the medium, according to Walker, who aims to close that gap. Attribution is more complex, especially now that more fans are consuming podcasts on audio, video, and social media platforms. Few attribution models allow audio companies to effectively track attribution across these various platforms. That's compounded by companies like Apple and Google making signals less available, as well as a constantly shifting privacy landscape. Currently, most brands have to take an ensemble approach to attribution, blending deterministic and probabilistic signals into a legible set of data. “Audio has never been more culturally relevant,” Walker said. “Podcasts are a way for people to go deep, have nuanced conversations, and foster an intimate relationship with creators. There are still so many opportunities in front of us.”

C-Suite

SiriusXM Names Scott Walker As Its New Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, Tasked With Expanding Reach and Improving Measurement

Podcasting's expansion into video and social media platforms comes with measurement challenges

Mark Stenberg

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