SiriusXM CFO Talks Tariffs War, Inflation Impact on Ad Market

SiriusXM continues to feel the heat from Donald Trump threatening tariffs on automakers.

“Right now, we’re a little concerned and cautious about where the ad sales are going,” SiriusXM CFO Thomas Barry told the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference on Tuesday during a session that was webcast.

The U.S. President most recently pausing tariffs for the Big Three car makers still leaves uncertainty around SiriusXM and the advertising market. “When you look at the current environment, obviously with the tariffs, the inflation, just overall uncertainty in the market, I think it’s adversely impacting the ad space,” Barry said.

He echoed remarks by SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz made last week at a Morgan Stanley event, where she argued the first two months of 2025 for the ad market were strong, but that was before a one-month tariff exemption for U.S. automakers amid a wider cross-border trade war was announced.

The net impact is Trump’s tariffs, imposed or paused, and subsequent retaliatory measures from Canada and Mexico, will make new cars more expensive to buy and impacts SiriusXM as it looks to broaden its ad-supported tier later this year. “In the last couple weeks, or week and a half, we’ve started to see a drop-off,” Barry reported.

The company’s finance chief also discussed SiriusXM last year signaling a shift away from spending heavily to sign up streaming subscribers, and instead putting a focus on cost efficiencies and its car subscription business.

“Streaming will always be an important part of our ecosystem,” Barry argued, but the in-car subscriber will be the focus of the company after SiriusXM pulled back on the streaming marketing spend. SiriusXM launched a streaming app in December 2023, for listening in and outside of the car, in what was seen as a service to rival Spotify. 

Now the focus is on in-car listening, and not elsewhere. “When you add up all the priorities, really it’s focused, it’s pulling back a little and it’s looking at where is the profitability, where the high margins are in this business, which is in the vehicle,” Barry argued.