What's the Frequency, NAB?

Two weeks ago the media merchants met in Nashville at the latest meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters to wring their hands over the challenges shaping and changing the business of delivering content. The content delivery landscape is riddled with disruption and conflict entangling consumer electronics companies, wireless carriers, broadcasters and regulators alike.

One of the newer themes at recent NAB events has been the consumption of content in cars and the state of the car radio. Expertise was brought to bear on the question of the future of in-car listening and its impact on the industry in an NAB panel discussion - but the participants may have missed the elephant in the room.

My friend Fred Jacobs, co-founder of Jacobs Media, participated on the panel at NAB and shared his deepest thoughts on the evolution of automotive content consumption. His thoughts are worthy of sharing and can be found here:

https://tinyurl.com/gwkkxle - "Radio vs. Everyone - That's the Challenge"

The topic is top of mind due to the arrival in dashboards around the world of Apple's CarPlay and Alphabet's Android Auto app integration platforms. Audio consumption in the car is recognized as a strategic battleground for the $20B spent annually on radio advertising and Apple and Alphabet have now stepped in. Alphabet's arrival is particularly alarming given its ad-driven ethos.

Over the years, the humble car radio has survived and outlived the onset of 8-track tapes, cassettes, CDs and iPods. But the smartphone is seen as something new with its ability to play streamed or stored content and enable access to email, texting, navigation, weather, news, sports and calendar information.

The NAB panelists focused on the challenge facing broadcasters to stand out and attract listeners in the context of smartphone-based competition. Fred's marketing insights stand out thanks to his years working with broadcasters to hone their content, step up their promotional activity and broaden their digital reach.

The challenge this time around, with smartphones, is one of fragmentation. While the 8-track, the cassette, the CD and the iPod have fallen by the wayside, smartphones appear to have greater staying power - at least for now - and smartphones follow the user wherever they go.

Research from organizations such as Strategy Analytics, Edison Research, Jacobs Media and others note that radio listening in the car - where more than 50% of radio listening occurs - is declining modestly but in the context of an increasingly fragmented listening earscape consisting of satellite radio, streaming apps, digital and analog radio and other sources including stored content, podcasts (a focal point at NAB) and audio books.

All of this masks a much more serious problem with the car radio. While meeting with a Tier 1 automotive industry supplier recently I asked about the quality of car radio reception and the many recent negative experiences I had had in rental cars.

Is it possible, I asked this executive, that car companies have taken their eyes off the ball? Is it possible that complacency among semiconductor suppliers and some loss of proficiency from retirements at car makers has contributed to a deterioration in the signal quality of radio reception?

This executive first noted that it was unlikely if not impossible for apps and streaming content to ever completely replace the range of free content and information delivered by car radios. He then agreed with my premise saying that the problem runs from the semiconductor suppliers through the entire supplier eco-system all the way to the car makers themselves. The quality of radio reception is indeed deteriorating.

The problem goes beyond the terrestrial interference which is degrading AM reception throughout the world. The issue relates to dropped analog and digital FM signals which is occurring primarily in new cars. Where radio may once have touted its near-universal "coverage" vis-a-vis cellular, a new problem of electro-magnetic interference is emerging and poking its way through the extensive testing and validation processes of auto makers.

It is perhaps no surprise that companies like Spirent, Anritsu and Underwriters Labs, among others, have begun spunking up their marketing materials and assuming more prominent positions in the industry. The need for wireless testing is greater than ever with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, inductive wireless charging, radar, ultrasonics, satellite, cellular and a growing range of aftermarket devices and low-power wireless connections cluttering up the wireless spectrum in the average car.

The essential virtues of radio in the form of reliable access to content and a familiar and distraction-free user interface are being undermined by car makers treating the radio as an afterthought. As distracted driving continues to rear its head as an insidious killer in a smartphone-addicted world, more than ever car makers ought to be ensuring that their customers can access the old, familiar and reliable radio experience they know and love without fear of EMI intrusion.

No amount of sexy marketing, enhanced content or juiced-up on-air talent will rescue radio if the signal is lost somewhere between the tower and the car. It's time for auto makers to recognize their responsibility to ensure a reliable in-dash experience for receiving contextualized information and content free over-the-air. Failure on the test bench and the drawing board is already producing failure on the road - but it's not too late to set things right.

Lest we forget, new car dealers rely heavily on radio advertising to reach consumers and the government relies on radio to share emergency broadcast information. Radio remains the preferred source of local traffic information and radio's reach exceeds all other media. It's a sad day when anyone in the auto industry takes radio for granted. It's time for the auto industry to recommit itself to delivering a quality radio experience.

Roger C. Lanctot is Associate Director in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. More details about Strategy Analytics can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/automotive#.VuGdXfkrKUk