Radiodays Europe: Data Revolution in Prague

It’s been more than 80 years since radios first arrived in cars. Over those 80 years there’s never been good data on what people are listening to on those radios … until today, as announced in Prague by Xperi.

Xperi will launch its DTS AutoStage Broadcast Portal today in Prague at the Radiodays Europe 2023 event. The portal will allow car makers and participating broadcasters a glimpse into in-car listening including tracks, content types, time of day, location of listening, and length of time listening.

The data will be exclusively over-the-air broadcast content – no streaming – but it will include everything from heat maps to time-of-day metrics representing an unmatched breakthrough in the understanding of in-vehicle content consumption. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the new data portal, particularly at a time when auto makers in the U.S. are deleting AM radio access and reconsidering the role of radio in the connected car.

Early indications are that Xperi’s insights into in-vehicle radio consumption have been nothing less than shocking to auto makers and broadcasters alike and will likely lead to an industry-wide re-evaluation of the relationship between the automotive and broadcast industries. Advertisers, too, are likely to want to see this data – a decision that will be in the hands of broadcasters as to their willingness to share and under what cirdcumstances. (They will definitely want to share.)

The data more or less belongs to Xperi which has invested in the in-vehicle integrations that have enabled the creation of this new data set. The info is free to broadcasters, though Xperi is asking those broadcasters who are interested to directly share data with Xperi in order to participate in and access the portal.

In essence, Xperi is opening the door to metrics that have never previously existed. Their importance is underscored by the fact that in most markets 50% or more of radio listening has historically been occurring in cars. That consumption of radio content has long been invisible to data collection organizations such as Arbitron, Nielsen and others.

The nature of Xperi's data collection is also salient, deriving as it does from Xperi’s servers that deliver essential meta data to millions of in-dash systems in connected cars around the world. In other words, the Xperi data isn’t a data sampling – it is comprehensive and precise for those vehicles accessing Xperi’s data service. But it is not sampled or projected to an audience measurement as in the case of Nielsen and Xperi will not share comparative data among broadcasters.

As far as the broadcast radio industry is concerned the connected car has long been a frustrating black hole of information. The industry has watched the onset of embedded connectivity devices in cars and the emergence of Apple Carplay and Android Auto smartphone projection solutions – all the while assuming that radio was being deprioritized by consumers and auto makers alike.

Xperi’s early data results – revealed for the first time today in Prague – show robust and diverse radio use in cars – including AM. This revelation alone will stimulate a rethink of radio deployment strategies in cars.  Suffice it to say that Xperi has fired the starter pistol on the great in-car radio reboot just as the digital radio transition is hitting full stride.

The Xperi data will change how stations promote and advertisers advertise. With a single stroke Xperi has singlehandedly put broadcast radio back on the front burner of automotive infotainment strategic thinking.