With the average American spending 15 hours per week listening to radio in the car, the in-car market is very important for radio broadcasters. For decades, traditional AM/FM radio listening has dominated the in-car audio market; however, this last bastion of traditional radio broadcasting is increasingly under threat as more and more cars become connected.
During the past few years, streaming music services have shown that there is a market for personalized radio and on-demand subscription based music services listening via PCs and laptops and particularly listening via smartphones. Now the streaming music service providers are turning their attention to the car and are seeking ways to offer their services to motorists, moving into territory the traditional radio stations have held sacred for decades.
This report provides a detailed overview of key streaming music players and discusses the issues confronting these providers as they strive to integrate their services into vehicles. Key partnerships with OEMs are highlighted. Also discussed is the impact that streaming will have on traditional radio broadcasting, an in particular, on digital radio standards such as Eureka-147-based DAB/DAB+ standards in Europe and HD Radio in the United States, as well as satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM.