12-12-13
By Dana Hall
Have you used a connected car yet? You need to. That's the number-one takeaway from Thursday's luncheon presentation at the Jacobs Media Summit during Nielsen's Audio Client Conference. Fred Jacobs, along with Roger Lanctot of Strategy Analytics and Nielsen's Ian Beavis, EVP of its Global Automotive Group, encourage broadcasters to buy, borrow, or rent a connected car to understand it better.
While they admit the space is still in transition, and some of the tools currently available are not so user friendly, Beavis stresses that everything is changing rapidly: "What you saw 90 days ago from manufacturers, is vastly different than what you are seeing today." He also predicts that connectivity in cars will be standard much sooner than some may think -- with the 2015 models being the tipping point.
Concerns that radio could be nudged out of the connected car dash seem to be unwarranted. At least if you talk with manufacturers, who agree that broadcast radio still has, and will likely continue to have, a very strong position with consumers. But they advise that radio needs to adapt in terms of how we look and function on the dash, as well as continue to capitalize on content, specifically local content.
Finally, Lanctot suggests that once the technical and consumer experience is fully worked out with the connected dash, we will move into the next phase of developing ways to measure in car usage. "In order to monetize what people are doing in the car, you have to have measurement." Beavis adds, "Radio needs to make sure it is on a level playing field with other online and in-car providers, so the question to ask is, "Is radio up to par with its online streaming services?"
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