Arbitron's Fall 2006 ratings survey was the first in which respondents were asked to indicate their listening to satellite and Internet radio stations as well as AM/FM terrestrial radio, and the results have now been revealed. Arbitron found that the sum of all listening to satellite radio channels mentioned by the half million diary keepers totaled 3.4 percent of credited quarter hours. Respondents mentioned 297 separate satellite radio channels during the Fall 2006 survey, and the company's analysis shows that the highest share of quarter hours for an individual satellite radio channel was .2 percent. The average satellite radio channel had a .009 percent share of quarter hours, which would not be high enough to meet Arbitron’s minimum reporting standards. In total, approximately 5.6 percent of the 468,786 diary keepers who participated in the fall survey listed a satellite radio channel in their diary, Arbitron said.

The analysis also showed that satellite listeners are heavy listeners to radio in general, including AM and FM stations. Satellite listeners spent an average of 33 hours a week with radio, compared to the typical listener who listened for about 19 hours a week. Also, the findings showed that people who listened to satellite radio spent more time with AM/FM radio (14 hours) than they did with satellite radio (10 hours, 45 minutes) or Internet stations (8 hours, 15 minutes).