Great news for broadcast radio this week, confirming our experience at RadioDNS; research commissioned by WorldDAB (and sponsored by Radioplayer, NAB, Xperi and Commercial Radio Australia) has found that 90% of car buyers say broadcast radio should be standard in every vehicle. The survey interviewed people who had just bought or leased a car, or were about to buy or lease a car and included respondents in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the U.S.A.
The report shows that radio continues to dominate in-car audio with almost all respondents to the survey being in favour of having a radio in their car. This was reflected across all ages groups, indicating the future of radio in the car is also very strong. 82% of potential car buyers say they would be deterred from buying a vehicle that didn’t have a radio.
“radio provides a better listening experience in the car than other types of audio sources.”
80% OF RESPONDENTS AGREED TO THIS STATEMENT
Car buyers were also asked about their most desired added-value in-car radio features. Having an ‘ability to search for radio stations using voice controls’ is the most popular (mentioned by 58% of respondents), followed by ‘provision of information about content’ (54%).
Those two requirements need metadata provided by our Service & Programme Information standard (TS 102 818) and Visual Slideshow (TS 101 499), showing that listeners expectation of radio enhancements need broadcasters to support hybrid radio.
The car remains the most popular location for listening to radio, cited by an average 89% of respondents, followed by 75% who listen at home and 39% who listen at work.