SmartPhones and In-Vehicle Entertainment Systems: Are Radio Listeners Making the Connection?
In the latest edition of the Harker Bos Group Media Minute, we wanted to find out whether self-reported radio listeners were connecting their smartphones to their vehicle’s entertainment dashboard, and whether they were listening to music via this connection. It is integral to understand the extent to which the smartphone figures into media consumption in the vehicle space, a space that radio has traditionally dominated. We asked over 1,200 radio listeners nationwide whether they are making the connection when they are in the car. Here’s what they had to say.
First off, let’s establish the ubiquity of the smartphone connection to the in-vehicle entertainment dashboard by looking at the following graph.
Graph (below): Do you connect your smartphone to listen to music on your vehicle’s entertainment system?
A whopping 90% of radio listeners who regularly drive connect their smartphone to their vehicle’s entertainment system to listen to music. This should immediately jump off the page to any PD or GM (or basically anyone that works in the audio industry). Apple and Google and the major US automakers are all probably aware of these statistics given the sophisticated tracking technologies placed in every smartphone and all cars manufactured after 2019. But now you are armed with this information.
This 90% of in-vehicle smartphone music use has profound implications for how we perceive of radio as being consumed. Users are either swapping between the AM/FM bands on their car’s dashboard and streaming services or accessing station streams via their smartphones for presumably higher quality streams of their favorite stations. Our own research showed in 2023 (a previous HBG Media Minute Entry) that a staggering 77% of radio listeners report having streamed a radio station on their smart phone. This metric coupled with the in-car smartphone music connection should be serious food for thought for PD’s and GM’s.
Conversely, this also bodes well for industry health. That despite connecting their smartphones to their vehicle’s entertainment systems for music, radio listeners are tuning into digital streams of their favorite station. Radio has successfully adapted into the digital age, hence its well documented resilience.
To wrap up, let’s take a quick look as to how listeners are making the in-vehicle smartphone connection.
Graph (below): How do you connect your smartphone to your vehicle’s entertainment system?
Thanks for reading this week’s HBG Media Minute! See you next time!
Study Profile:
Study Conducted in August 2024
1200+ Radio Listeners
Nationwide Sample
Male/Female
All Ethnicities/Races
Ages 18+