Posts filed under ‘In-Car’
What’s Driving Internet Radio
“In the not-too-distant future, a car with a radio that receives only AM or FM will qualify as an antique.” So says a WSJ article covering a new study released by Deloitte on Generation Y’s automotive buying power and preferences.
The study finds that 59% of 19 to 31 year olds place in-car connectivity as the top interior feature when shopping for a new car. This year one out of every four persons in that age group will buy a new car, almost half of them will purchase new or used in the next two years.
That’s driving heavy interest in tuners and platforms that are app ready and adaptable to safe car use. Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, NPR and others are working with auto manufacturers to place their apps in the cars, as is SiriusXM. Leading the way, Pandora has deals in place with almost 2 dozen auto manufacturers already.
I think there’s a short term and long term view to all of this and long term my money is on all-in aggregators like TuneIn who provide access to anyone who wants to be listed in their directory. If you are a car manufacturer, isn’t that what you would want to offer? I’m thinking that’s what buyers will want to buy.
Slacker Adds Live Sports, Customizable Weather
It’s CES week in Vegas, and that means lots of Internet radio companies are announcing new deals and developments.
Slacker will now offer live streaming of major professional and collegiate sports events from ESPN. The new feature began last night with the live broadcast of the BCS Championship game — No. 1 LSU versus No. 2 Alabama — which was available to all Slacker listeners. Slacker also announced a partnership with The Weather Channel to offer customizable forecasts and updates to Slacker listeners.
Adding real-time updates from The Weather Channel to Slacker’s millions of songs and non-music content further highlights Slacker’s commitment to creating the best Personal Radio experience. “Every person is affected by weather; it’s an important part of our lives,” said Jonathan Sasse, senior vice president of marketing at Slacker. “Including weather on our stations is one more way that Slacker is offering the most relevant content to listeners, providing the best possible personal radio experience.”
Meanwhile, Targetspot and Livio Radio have announced that TargetSpot will be the exclusive third-party advertising provider for Livio Connect, which allows consumers to access digital radio content while in their vehicles. Through this partnership, TargetSpot’s advertisers will be able to reach an audience of listeners comprised of 65 percent of the automotive Bluetooth market as well as drivers of major auto brands.
“Digital radio in-car is a game changer: until now, morning drive time has been served by over- the-air radio, but as digital access becomes more readily available in auto, this will change,” said Eyal Goldwerger, CEO of TargetSpot. “We are thrilled to offer our advertisers the ability to reach digital audio consumers in their cars. With TargetSpot’s widening network of distribution partners, advertisers can reach their desired target audiences wherever they are listening and whatever their listening preferences may be.”
Harman Survey Shows Consumers Want Internet Radio In Their Dashboard
Consumers want Internet radio in their dashboard. 64% of consumers would listen everyday if they had access to streaming music sites in their cars, according to a newly released study sponsored by Harman, the premiere audio system brand. The only thing they want access to more than streaming music in their car is real time traffic, and being connected to a home computer, news, and the Internet were attractive options as well.
All of this from a new study, Driving the Connected Computer, that examined the technologies that consumers want in their cars. Voice controls are highly desirable, 70% of those said they would prefer voice controls that make a car easier to use.
The overwhelming takeaway is that consumers consider it essential to stay connected in their cars. “Staying connected in the car is essential to success,” is the way one survey participant put it. The survey consisted of interviews with Adults 18+ who own a car, make buying decisions and already own several tech products such as a smartphone, mp3 player, etc.. Voice controls, Internet connectivity, and tools that enable productivity are the hot buttons for these consumers.
Mary Meeker: The Next Big Thing Is Online Audio
Mary Meeker is widely considered to be an expert when it comes to spotting trends online. A partner at venture capitallist firm KPCB, she was named one of the ten smartest people in tech last year by Fortune magazine. She’s a popular speaker and analyst who has a knack for spotting the next big trend in technology. Lately Ms Meeker’s specialty has been mobile and the way it is revolutionizing the way we do everything, from shopping to consuming media.
This week, speaking at Web 2.0, Meeker gave a fast talking presentation about Internet trends. In it, she predicts that the next big thing is online audio. Lots of new technologies are contributing to this emerging trend. For example, she points out that while twitter and facebook have enjoyed enormous success with their mobile apps, it’s Pandora that has the largest percentage of their audience on mobile devices.
Meeker went on to mention new technologies that are driving the new trend, including Bluetooth enabled wireless devices which permit hands free access, higher quality, more compact wireless audio speakers, connected car audio, sound recognition and understanding apps such as Apple’s new Siri, and sound creation and sharing platforms like SoundCloud and Spotify. 
The presentation is chock full of great info and perspective on the promise of mobile. There’s plenty of room left for growth for smartphones, mobile ad dollars are ramping up just fine, cpms are ramping too.
What’s more, the US has taken a leadership position in new mobile technology – thanks largely to Apple and Google. Innovation in Silicon Valley has never been more rapid.
And in case you missed this point a few paragraphs ago, Mary Meeker, one of my personal favorites in the biz, said that Online Audio is the next big thing…
You can watch her presentation online here.
Study: Listeners Love AM/FM Streams More than AM/FM Broadcasts
Americans are spending more time in their cars, time spent in cars on weekdays has increased by over an hour since 2003. Last week, Arbitron, Edison Research and Scarborough presented an update to a study from 2003 called The Road Ahead that looks at in-car listening options and adoptions.
While radio continues to the the audio listening choice in cars, its dominance has dropped by 12% since 2003. Back then 1% of people chose satellite radio, and listening to ipods and Internet radio streams was not an option. Now, 8% of folks who have driven or ridden in a car in the last month have listened to satellite radio, and a whole slew of new choices have bubbled up to compete with AM/FM broadcast radio. 6% listened to a Pandora stream, 4% to an AM/FM stream, and 2% to another non-Pandora stream. (The numbers are not exclusive so we can’t add them up).
The study also looked at the way people “feel” about various listening platforms, and the results are very insightful. At the top of the list of things people “love” listening to in their car is satellite radio with 54%. 34% “love” listening to Pandora via a mobile phone. And 30% love listening to AM/FM streams via a mobile phone, while 28% “love” listening to the same content on their AM/FM radio. New technologies, notes the study, get better “love” ratings, even if the content is the same..
Despite a proliferation of new in-car technologies, radio remains the “king”. But that’s not a license to be complacent, cautions the study. Instead, radio should recognize that “digital platforms are crucial to protecting radio’s in-car franchise. In fact, the authors of the study believe that HD radio has the ability to “provide the ‘wow’ factor for AM/FM in-car radio. This must be based on the higher “love” ranking that HD Radio gets among people that have it.
What Do Listeners Want?
Image via Wikipedia
I was recently asked to weigh in on radio’s future for a “crowdsourced” speech at RadioInk’s Convergence Conference. Here is what I wrote:
In 5-10 years the term “radio” will encompass all audio content that is distributed as continuous programming and delivered via various technologies including broadcast, satellite, and streaming. Radio devices will receive such programming from all of these sources seamlessly, so there will be less and less focus on which technology is delivering it. The listener will select programming from a list of presets that shows broadcast radio next to streaming radio next to satellite choices.
As they are empowered by more and more choices, the consumer will become more selective and less tolerant of mediocre programming. It will be the content offerings rather than the technologies that draw in the listener.
With so many listening options, listeners will be less tolerant of ad content that offers them no value. This will further cheapen mass appeal advertising, but it will drive the use of more targeted, relevant ad creative. Free, ad-supported stations will obtain permission from listeners who will opt to receive targeted, relevant ads. Those ads will be more valuable to them and will show a higher return on investment for the advertiser.
The ability for listeners to interact with and respond to programming and advertising will become critical, stations and advertisers will develop more and better ways to do this such as sms and online 1-click solutions that make it as easy for listeners to respond to an ad as it is to give a song “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.”
I’m thinking more and more these days about the large number of listening choices that consumers now have and the way that that will impact just about everything in the future. Listeners are empowered and can choose exactly what they want to listen to, on what technology and device, and how they want to hear it. I think the winning platforms will be the ones that recognize that. What do you think?
New Study: Car Streaming is Here
KnowDigital presented the results of a new study focused on Internet radio listening in cars at RAIN Summit West which revealed that Internet radio is – despite technological challenges – already in cars, and many of those who listen to Internet radio on a weekly basis have already found a way to listen in their cars.
“Despite these challenges, it appears that in-car streaming radio is far from the “next frontier.” according to the study presented by VP Sam Milkman. While obstacles such as technological ease, smartphone battery use, and data plan expenses were of concern to some, 71% of those who listen regularly to Internet radio are already listening in their cars.
90% of those listeners are also listening to terrestrial radio in the car, and Milkman points out that broadcast radio continues to be a choice out of habit, ease of use and live and local content such as traffic, news, weather, and personalities. Broadcasters should continue to focus on these services as they brace for the coming wave of Internet radio in cars, he advises.
As new devices emerge to put Internet radio into the dashboard of the car, consumers will be forced to choose which stations they want to lock into presets. KnowDigital found that when offered the chance to program up to ten presets, consumers only chose to program five of those positions. This means that as the in-car audio system opens up to offer on-air and online audio options, terrestrial broadcasters will have to sharpen their skills to hang onto a preset. “There only appears to be interest in one or two FM stations,” cautions the study.
According to this study, it’s game-on for in car Internet radio. As newer devices make access and listening easier, the stakes will get higher. It’s important that stations develop strategies and relationships that enable them to leverage the car streaming opportunity.
MOG Steps On The Gas
On-demand subscription music service MOG has joined the parade of online music platforms that are announcing partnerships with device and automotive manufacturers. Today MOG announced partnerships with LG for televisions and Sonos for home stereo systems. The New York Times reports they are also about to become part of BMW’s Mini lineup, alongside Pandora and others.
MOG will be pre-installed on the devices, and require a subscription. MOG is a subscription based on demand – or cloud – service that enables listening from various mobile devices.
MOG’s Founder and CEO is David Hyman, who will be appearing at RAIN Summit West on April 11th during NAB Show Week in Las Vegas. He’s not shy about his ambitions. “The car is the holy grail,” Mr. Hyman told the NY Times. “I look at the satellite-radio market in America, with 20 million subscribers, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t be 20 million subscribers.”
Pandora is already in a lot of cars, with deals for Ford, Toyota, Mini, and other automotive manufacturers in place. But MOG’s service gives listeners access to a different kind of listening – to songs on demand. Similar to cloud based music streaming services Rhapsody, rdio, and Spotify (which is not yet in the US), MOG is the first of this type of service to announce a deal to get into the dashboard of a major car manufacturer.
But not the last..
Taking Streaming Siriusly
Things aren’t looking so bad for Sirius XM these days. They finished 2010 with more than 20 million subscribers, and renewed their contract with Howard Stern, and managed to report profits for most of last year. And while the crisis isn’t over – they still have plenty of debt to worry about – the skies seem to be brightening.
In part, they can thank Pandora for that. Pandora, who filed papers last week as a first step in their move to go public, is raising awareness of and interest in new radio technologies. And while Sirius XM isn’t really an Internet radio company, they have a substantial presence online, and could certainly head in that direction.
Actually, I’ve begun to wonder if they haven’t already – they just announced a new deal that puts them on Sonos Internet radio devices along with Pandora and others. They’re working on a new platform for Android, they’re already on iPhone. They are already in the Internet radio game – and getting an extra $2.99 a month for it from their subscribers.
Pandora’s impressed a bunch of folks with their stats – 80 million registered users is an impressive number. But we know from the filing that less than 10% of them are paying customers – and while Pandora is watching ad dollars flow in, they have a big job in front of them in turning all those listeners into advertising revenue. Pandora’s subscribers listen to ad-free music streams.
Meanwhile, Sirius XM has reported that they have more than 20 million subscribers as of the end of 2010. Who are both paying to listen AND listening to commercials. Auto sales are on the upswing, and Sirius XM gains subs from that as well.
Analysts are liking Sirius XM, and I have to say their business model is starting to look somewhat sound…
Internet Radios Driving Auto Aftermarket Sales Increases
Image via Wikipedia
Car stereo aftermarket sales rose in 2010 for the first time in a long time, thanks in part to Internet radio. Twice magazine says that new technologies such as Internet radios are the stimulus behind the more than 11% increase in automotive audio aftermarket sales.
There are several new technologies that have consumers excited – in addition to Internet radio, younger demo car buyers want touchscreens that enable iPod/iTouch integration and Facebook connectivity.
Manufacturers such as are excited – and they expect sales to continue to grow in 2011. The domino effect should be an increase in spending on car audio, which will boost awareness of the new devices even further. And what better place to advertise those connected devices than on the Internet radio stations themselves…
