BRUSSELS — For more than a century, the car has been one of radio’s most powerful environments. Millions of people use it to discover music, catch up on news and spend time with trusted voices. For advertisers, it offers something increasingly rare in a fragmented media market: Sustained attention.
Despite competition from streamed music, podcasts and other on-demand services, live radio remains the leading form of in-car audio across several major markets. It accounts for 69% of in-car listening in the U.K., 71% in Belgium and 82% in Australia. Radio also represents more than three-quarters of ad-supported in-car audio in the U.S., at 83%, and Canada, at 79%.*
Yet software-defined dashboards give streaming services, navigation tools and AI assistants new ways to compete for drivers’ attention. While the connected car need not mark the end of radio, it does require the industry to combine broadcast’s reach, trust and human connection with digital personalization, discoverability and data.
Few media environments combine scale, attention and frequency as effectively as the car. Radio brings drivers familiar presenters, local relevance and a connection with others listening at the same time. Drivers are not scrolling through tabs while listening, making the journey valuable to advertisers.
The industry’s central question has changed. It is no longer only how to keep radio in the car, but how to build the best connected-car audio experience. As CES 2026 illustrated, automakers increasingly compete through cockpit software and AI as well as physical performance.
Drivers move among radio, streams, podcasts, audiobooks and voice assistants without considering the underlying technology. This is less a contest between radio and streaming than a battle for relevance. The most intuitive and trusted services will have the advantage.
Discoverability becomes the battleground
For decades, one press of a dedicated radio button provided instant access. Digital dashboards can break that connection because a station that requires too many taps may lose listeners regardless of its content. A request such as “play something for my drive” can also transfer the choice to an algorithm.
Radio businesses need accurate, structured metadata, content that aggregators and voice assistants can surface and direct relationships with automakers. The industry must treat discovery as part of distribution. In the connected car, availability is only the first step.
Radio Ready for Connected Cars brings public service and commercial broadcasters together with industry bodies, technology providers and automotive stakeholders. The initiative argues that radio must remain prominent, easy to find on dashboards and reliable through voice assistants. Tobias Nielsen, CEO of Bauer Media Audio Denmark and vice president of strategic partnerships at Bauer Media Group, noted, “The next challenge is ensuring that radio services are easy to discover and use. Broadcasters must support this effort by improving the accuracy and consistency of their metadata.”
Radioplayer, a broadcaster-owned technology company working with more than 800 broadcasters and 10,000 stations, supports discovery through shared metadata, vehicle integrations and voice-enabled services. It works with automakers and platforms including Google, Apple and Sonos. CEO Yann Legarson described its role as “using the collective strength of broadcasters to achieve what none could do alone.”
These initiatives show that broadcasters cannot secure radio’s position on their own. The ecosystem requires collaboration among radio businesses, automakers, technology companies, regulators and industry bodies. egta supports efforts that make radio easier for drivers to find and use.
AI becomes the next gatekeeper
Voice assistants are shifting the listener’s action from choosing a station to requesting content for a particular moment. At CES 2026, companies presented conversational systems combining navigation, vehicle controls and media. These systems could increasingly determine which audio a driver hears.
Radio brings trusted, contextual material to this environment, including news, traffic, weather and local information. However, AI cannot recommend content it cannot identify, index or understand. Strong metadata will therefore become essential to radio’s position in the vehicle.
One response could be a shared knowledge layer built on the Model Context Protocol, an open standard that enables AI systems to query external data sources. An assistant could retrieve a station’s schedule, metadata and availability directly instead of relying on scraped web pages. egta has begun developing a comparable architecture to make trusted audio evidence available to AI systems involved in media planning and buying.
Jon Block, founder and principal consultant at Syllepsis, an AI innovation and knowledge engineering firm, explained why this matters. “Knowledge architecture closes the gap, structuring what broadcasters already know so the assistant can read it,” he said. “What an AI can read, it can recommend.”
The connected car can enhance the value of broadcast to advertisers rather than replace it. Reach, trust and emotional connection can combine with context, data, dynamic creative and attribution. Brands could tailor messages to time, location and journey context without sacrificing radio advertising’s simplicity.
This opportunity requires a total-audio mindset. Listeners do not organize choices around FM, DAB+, IP or podcast distribution, but expect a coherent experience across live radio, streams, catch-up and podcasts. Advertisers can then reach a single audience through connected touchpoints rather than treating each channel separately.
Broadcasters and sales houses can act now by making content visible across dashboards, infotainment systems and voice assistants. They should improve metadata, connect live and on-demand services and work with automotive and technology partners. Apps, podcasts, events, newsletters and social media can then extend radio’s trusted listener relationship beyond the drive.
Beyond commerce
The stakes extend beyond advertising. Radio remains a resilient, free-to-access channel when digital networks overload or other systems fail. Floods in Spain in 2024 and extreme events elsewhere have reinforced its role in delivering verified updates, safety instructions and local guidance.
Wouter Quartier, head of radio at the European Broadcasting Union, argued, “Radio is much more than another audio service in the dashboard. It is a universal, free-to-access public service that people rely on every day and especially when it matters most.” Accessibility in software-defined vehicles supports choice, resilience and public safety.
Belgium, Spain and France have pushed for mandatory radio reception and a dedicated radio button in discussions around the European Union’s Digital Networks Act. Conor Murray, director of regulatory and public affairs at egta, argued that access to essential information should not depend on manufacturers’ choices. Keeping free-to-air radio one action away matters for listeners, media pluralism and safety.
Every major shift in audio has created uncertainty and opened new ground. The connected car allows broadcasters to make audio more accessible, intelligent, measurable and valuable to advertisers while protecting radio’s public purpose. Audio will have a place in tomorrow’s car; the decisions the industry makes now will determine what that role becomes.
The author is radio director at egta, the international trade body for multiplatform television and audio businesses.
*Sources: Rajar/Ofcom “Media Nations 2026” (U.K.); CIM “Audio Time 2026” (Belgium); Edison Research “The Infinite Dial 2026” (Australia); Edison Research “Share of Ear 2025” (U.S.); Angus Reid “Audio Study Spring 2026” (Canada)
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