Steering strategy with real-time audience data

Joe D’Angelo, Xperi’s senior vice president of broadcast radio and digital audio, sees how innovative data analytics in connected cars is shaping broadcast strategy.

RedTech: What emerging challenge in broadcaster operations most influenced your recent product or platform development, and why was it important to address it now?

Joe D’Angelo: Connectivity, integration and awareness are paving the way for attribution and charting a course toward programmatic advertising. As the connected car ecosystem grows, the industry is moving toward a more digitally connected environment, which has surfaced important challenges that have influenced our platform development. 

Through our DTS AutoStage media platform, we are building the infrastructure that opens new opportunities for broadcasters. In that context, the challenges are:

1. Understanding the broadcaster’s audience. Radio measurement has not kept pace with the evolution of digital media, leaving broadcasters without the kind of audience visibility that streaming platforms have long enjoyed. Our answer was to introduce analytics, measured from inside the connected car through the DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal, and providing broadcasters with the digital precision needed to understand exactly how, when and where listeners tune in. 
2. At the same time, broadcasters have been broadly excluded from the programmatic advertising marketplace, where many agencies now transact business. The biggest and most immediate challenge is measurement and attribution, so we are working toward a solution that uses our analytics to provide context, visibility, campaign performance measurement and delivery capabilities that are table stakes for programmatic advertising.

RedTech: How does your technology help broadcasters save costs, grow revenues, simplify workflows, or enhance the audience experience?

D’Angelo: DTS AutoStage enhances the listening experience by enriching broadcast radio with metadata such as station information, “now playing” details, and other meaningful visual elements. This elevates the radio UX to deliver what users have come to expect of a modern app. While listeners are tuned to the broadcaster’s programming, that rich metadata brings the broadcast to life in the vehicle interface and helps deepen audience engagement. 

The platform is also designed to simplify workflows and minimize costs for broadcasters. It integrates with widely deployed systems across the ecosystem, so there are no new software or hardware investments required to participate in DTS AutoStage.

At the same time, the ecosystem creates opportunities for enhanced advertising. For example, broadcasters can extend traditional audio advertising with structured text or visual elements, creating new upsell opportunities, while audience analytics, through the DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal, provide more timely information and precise insight into listener engagement with advertising.

RedTech: Are there any other operational or technical limitations that restrict broadcasters’ ability to move forward today, and how is your company addressing them?

D’Angelo: We don’t see limitations. Xperi has worked to ensure that DTS AutoStage supports the global array of automation systems and architectures used throughout the industry. As a result, integration is simple and widely available to broadcasters of all sizes. We have also expanded our platform’s flexibility through a broader API framework, allowing it to work seamlessly with the tools and platforms broadcasters already use.

By ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure equipment, broadcasters can participate in connected-car experiences without operational disruption or equipment challenges.

RedTech: Looking ahead over the next three to five years, what practical change do you believe will most affect how audio services are produced, distributed or monetized?

D’Angelo: The continued precision of analytics will lead to a much clearer understanding of radio audiences, and by extension, expanded participation in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. 

As that insight becomes more immediate and timely, it shortens the feedback loop between broadcasters and their audiences, allowing stations to make more nimble programming and audience engagement decisions. 

At the same time, advances in technologies such as AI are likely to reshape elements of the production chain, helping broadcasters generate and adapt content more quickly. 

Another important shift is how audiences discover radio in the car. As listeners move away from remembering numbers on the dial and toward discovering content, our connected car platform helps level the playing field for all radio stations and enables more frictionless discovery of broadcast programming. 

Much like television moved from a limited set of channels and printed TV Guides to dynamic menus and carousels, radio in the car is moving in the same direction. As choice expands, it will become even more important for broadcasters to promote their brand and ensure their content is easily discoverable. Not only is our DTS AutoStage platform designed to support this evolution and remain adaptable as the industry continues to innovate, but it is also driving future change.

This originally appeared in the special edition, The Innovators 2026. You can view or download this publication for free here.

You can read or download all RedTech publications for free here.

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