Pandora's monthly users fell to 38.8 million as SiriusXM raised its 2026 outlook

Pandora, the music streaming service owned by SiriusXM, ended the third quarter of 2026 with 38.8 million monthly active users, down from 41.6 million a year earlier, SiriusXM said on October 29. That is a fall of 6.6% (our calculation). Listening on Pandora's ad-supported service also dropped, while SiriusXM's own subscriber base held steady and the company raised its full-year financial guidance for the second quarter in a row.

Pandora and Off-Platform, the SiriusXM business segment that includes Pandora, grew revenue slightly to $549 million in the three months to September 30. Advertising revenue rose 1% to $419 million, driven by podcasting, programmatic advertising and technology fees, the company said, "partially offset by softer streaming music advertising, reflecting lower listening hours." Subscriber revenue fell 2% to $130 million, which the company put down to lower subscriber numbers. Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium ended the quarter with about 5.5 million self-pay subscribers.

Ad-supported listener hours fell 9.6% from a year earlier to 2.25 billion (our calculation), and self-pay subscribers fell by about 177,000. For scale, Spotify reported 788 million monthly active users on October 22 (our report).

SiriusXM's subscribers

SiriusXM's own subscription service added about 5,000 self-pay subscribers in the quarter, an improvement of 45,000 on the same quarter of 2025, when it lost 40,000. SiriusXM credited companion subscriptions, which added 107,000 self-pay net additions, along with its continuous service initiative and extended-duration plans sold through car dealers, gains it said more than offset lower conversion rates. Self-pay monthly churn improved to about 1.5%. SiriusXM ended September with about 33 million subscribers, and average revenue per user was $15.18, against $15.19 a year earlier.

We're stabilizing our subscriber base, deepening engagement through differentiated content and experiences, and expanding the reach and capabilities of our advertising platform.

SiriusXM's revenue was flat at $1.60 billion. Its own advertising revenue fell 5% to $37 million, on softer demand around news programming and from direct-to-consumer advertisers, and equipment revenue fell 16%, mainly because of higher memory costs for its hardware modules. Group revenue slipped to $2.153 billion from $2.159 billion, while net income rose 7% to $317 million.

What subscribers listened to

Average listening time rose about 5% from a year earlier, SiriusXM said. The Dolly Parton Tribute Channel became its most-listened-to artist pop-up channel of 2026, and Life with John Mayer became its most-streamed artist channel. Through a partnership with YouTube Audio, SiriusXM's advertising arm now says it reaches about 255 million unduplicated monthly listeners, up from 170 million a year ago, which it puts at nearly 90% of Americans aged 13 and older. YouTube's parent, Alphabet, reported higher YouTube ad revenue on October 28 (our report).

What comes next

SiriusXM now expects about $8.55 billion in 2026 revenue, about $2.65 billion in adjusted EBITDA and about $1.40 billion in free cash flow, each $25 million higher than before. Its chief financial officer, Zac Coughlin, said the company was positioned to "meaningfully accelerate share repurchases in 2027." On the programming side, its lineup of 25 holiday music channels, including Hallmark Radio and Trans-Siberian Orchestra Radio, begins on Monday, November 2.