Sirius XM And iHeart Media In Talks To Merge

Howard Stern is still a big audience draw for SiriusXM. In December 2025, he announced a contract extension to continue The Howard Stern Show for three more years, featuring a flexible schedule on his dedicated channels, Howard 100 and Howard 101. He has been with the satellite radio company since 2006

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Getting big seems to be a legitimate and sought after survival strategy in media.

It’s being widely reported that iHeartMedia and SiriusXM are in early talks about combining the two companies, according to multiple sources, who say that Irving Azoff, Chairman and CEO of The Azoff Company, a private media and investment firm, and Apollo Global Management are involved to try and help facilitate a deal.

iHeartMedia is the largest radio station owner in the U.S., with more than 860 stations in 160 markets, while SiriusXM is the largest satellite radio service, boasting talents deals with the Alex Cooper, Stephen A. Smith, and Howard Stern. In recent years, both companies have focused on podcasts as a growth engine amid a decline in radio listenership. iHeartMedia filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and has since been working to mount a turnaround via a combination of revenue growth and a projected $100 million in cost reduction, with shares up about 10 percent year to date.

Both companies have remained mum on merger talks, with representatives for SiriusXM declining to comment, and Apollo reps not responding at all. All iHeartMedia would say is, “we don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”

Apollo is a major private equity player in the media landscape. In 2024, the company made a bid for Paramount, which was ultimately acquired by David Ellison.

Combined, iHeart and SiriusXM would exert more dominance across the radio waves, and in the podcasting industry.

SiriusXM is the biggest podcast network in the U.S. and has a roster of shows that include Call Her Daddy, SmartLess, The Mel Robbins Podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, MrBallen Podcast, and more. iHeartMedia is the third-largest podcast network, with popular shows including My Favorite Murder, The Breakfast Club, Stuff You Should Know, Crime Junkie, The Bobby Bones Show, The Breakfast Club, My Favorite Murder and Las Culturistas.

While SiriusXM has been concentrating on reducing churn among its satellite radio base, it still expects flat revenue for the upcoming year. However, podcast ad revenue grew over 41 percent in 2025, after double-digit growth in 2024. IHeartMedia saw a similar growth pattern in its fourth-quarter earnings, with podcast revenue up 24.5% year over year and total revenue up just 0.8 percent.

With terrestrial and satellite radio leaking listeners to streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube, scale becomes a survival strategy. On the radio side of the equation, the merger would bring together iHeartMedia’s approximately 860 radio stations and SiriusXM’s music and spoken word channels. SiriusXM says it had around 33 million subscribers as of last year.

Tony Onwuchekwa (Tony Doe) is Host of Into The Podverse and Lead Curator of the Nigerian Podcast Index and assesses the merger possibility this way: “A merger between iHeartMedia and SiriusXM would be less about growth and more about staying relevant in a fragmented market. Together, they would combine reach, content, and ad power into a stronger single platform. Separately, they risk further decline as audiences spread across digital ecosystems. In simple terms, they are stronger together because consolidation gives them leverage in a market where control has already shifted elsewhere.”

The podcast industry has already consolidated through aggressive corporate acquisitions by major platforms like Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartMedia, shifting from a fragmented, indie-creator landscape to one dominated by centralized networks. This shift focuses on vertical integration, where platforms control content production, distribution, and ad technology to improve profitability.

“Industry consolidation threatens two vested parties,” begins podcast producer Gary Grimes. “First, the consumer is hurt by weakening competition, which too often means higher prices. Second, smaller, independent podcasters would find it even harder to compete against highly consolidated, vertically integrated industry giants.”

While both parties emphasize that talks are only in their preliminary stage, a possible merger of these two giants bolsters a media industry trend of getting bigger to compete.

Just last month, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved a merger with Paramount Skydance valued at approximately $110 billion to $111 billion, including debt. The deal, which combines major entertainment assets, received shareholder backing on April 23, 2026, with an offer of $31 a share. The acquisition is currently awaiting regulatory approval.

Right now, according to Marketing Dive, Spotify holds an estimated 21%–26% share of U.S. podcast listeners, while iHeartRadio is the number one podcast publisher in the U.S., delivering 180 million monthly downloads, and, as of Q3 2025, SiriusXM Podcast Network leads in average weekly reach, recently overtaking Spotify.

Of course, multiple questions would stem from the size and scale of such an audio setup, including potential scrutiny from antitrust regulators. Stay tuned.