Xperi Tests Vehicle-Based Radio Measurement Across 250 U.S. Markets.

Xperi’s DTS AutoStage is looking to be a game-changer with its current beta test of radio audience data from the 6 million vehicles with the platform across 250 U.S. markets.

“We’re looking at radio audience measurement based on actual vehicle consumption,” Xperi Corporation Senior Director of Broadcast Strategy and Business Development Juan Galdamez said during a recent RAB webinar. “Broadcast radio is dominating in-vehicle audio consumption for listeners around the country, [so] let’s take advantage of the ever-increasing internet connection inside of the vehicle and raise the bar. The experience of technology [and] content inside of connected vehicles is changing rapidly, and it’s imperative that radio steps up and delivers the best experience possible.”

Pairing over-the-air radio — including AM, FM, HD and FM translators — with the internet connection in cars from 10 automakers currently offering DTS AutoStage (including Ford, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW and Tesla), Xperi has offered drivers what it calls a “hybrid experience” adding a visual component to audio. Data showing how drivers in those cars are consuming broadcast radio — including station rankings, share trending, out-of-market listening and daypart measurement, on a daily basis — is based on significant sample sizes across markets, from more than 241,000 vehicles in the New York market to nearly 10,000 in Macon, GA.

“We are seeing some really interesting stuff: the impact of the first day of school, [and] of live sports broadcasts on weekend listening,” Galdamez says. “We were able how Thanksgiving was a kickoff for Christmas listening and how that increased share from Tuesday to Sunday, and how that impacted share for stations playing all-Christmas music.”

Stations using Xperi’s portal will have access to all its 250 markets, with each market showing the number of vehicles, tuning events and listening hours in each market, along with time spent listening, share and cume data for each station.

“We’re in this data-driven world where we’re looking for as much data as possible to understand what’s going on,” Galdamez says. “Now, for the first time ever, within 24 hours, you can see the impact of broadcast listening consumption if you’re doing something from a programming perspective, [or] if there’s a major event happening in the market or nationally. You can see how programming, contesting, national [or] local events [are] impacting your listenership.”

The portal not only offers station daypart activity by the hour, but also a “heatmap” showing where consumers are listening at the time, regardless of their home address or zip code. “Stations have been using [this] to show advertisers where listeners are in and around their place of business, [so] it starts to become a really powerful tool,” Galdamez says.

The data can also impact the music played on stations, with charts showing song consumption: the number of times a song is played, the average number of sessions and of radios tuned in for each play. “You can see what songs are performing for the station, what songs are retaining the most pairs of ears on a given week,” Galdamez says.

While this is an already wide menu of research choices for stations to look at, Galdamez sees more opportunities ahead. “Why couldn’t we show [what] was the most consumed ad, or the gross impressions for that advertising campaign? How can we help identify unique trends? How can we look at how performance is going on the weekends or weekdays or specific dayparts? There are so many more things that we can do, and it’s only going to get more exciting. This big data moment that we have for broadcast radio, it’s real, and it’s here.”