Cain Velasquez schreef op 11 maart 2016 00:48:
www.strategyanalytics.com/strategy-an...by Roger Lanctot
At the WorldDAB gathering at the Geneva Motor Show yesterday I got an eerie feeling about just how different Americans are from Europeans. After the third presenter estimated the percentage of radio listening time occurring in cars at less than 20% of the total I could no longer contain myself and simply had to ask ...: “What’s wrong with you people?”
Sensing an intervention at hand, the attendees at the conference explained to me that the lack of automotive radio listening as a percentage of total radio listening derived in part from the fact that Europeans use their cars and televisions less than Americans. Public transportation is more comprehensive, inexpensive and easy to use and Europe is just generally smaller and more densely packed than the U.S. - ergo, less driving.
What emerges from this minor revelation is the fact that the U.S. is far more car obsessed and, perhaps as a result, more willing to pay for its radio listening – whether that be contributions to public radio stations, data for streaming audio, or subscriptions to satellite radio. The obsession with cars, though, is critical to understanding both markets.
Both the U.S. and Europe, like many regions around the world, have been confronting the limitations of the existing analog broadcast radio spectrum. This supply-demand disconnect was what gave rise to the shift to digital radio: HD Radio in the U.S. and DAB/DAB+ in Europe and elsewhere around the world. Broadcasters wanted more room to grow, innovate and compete.
Digital radio promises a lower cost of operation and lower power requirements while offering higher capacity and the ability to transmit higher volumes of information, new types of data and content and a higher quality signal.
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WorldDAB has worked with regulators, broadcasters, consumer electronics companies, semiconductor and component manufacturers and car companies for more than 10 years to speed the adoption of DAB. At long last, these mighty and far flung efforts have Europe on a path to adoption that has the finish line in sight, including anticipated switchovers from analog to digital in Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom in the coming years. In many countries digital radio coverage surpasses the coverage of analog broadcasts. ...
Car companies are now aggressively moving forward with DAB/DAB+ integration – with 98% of car companies exhibiting at Geneva offering DAB/DAB+ in their cars. (Ferrari is the lone holdout.)
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The best news of all is that boring old car radios are now seeing enhancements ranging from digital weather, traffic, parking and fuel pricing information to news feeds, emergency alerts and graphics. Having spent an entire week without driving a vehicle I can honestly say “you” Europeans may be onto something.
But I’m looking forward to taking the wheel again later today upon my return to the U.S. and feeling the radio dial in my fingertips, or the steering wheel controls, or the touch screen or whatever.