Cumulus Media just became Xperi’s first commercial partner for AutoStage Broadcaster Portal Premium. The deal brings near-census-level, in-car listening data to America’s radio industry.
What We Know: Cumulus signed on as the flagship licensee for Xperi’s audience intelligence platform. The company operates 393 stations across 84 markets and will roll out Broadcaster Portal Premium nationwide. Meanwhile, AutoStage already reaches 16 million vehicles and tracks tens of millions of monthly AM/FM listening hours across 300 U.S. markets. As a result, broadcasters gain access to share-of-listening, audience flow, and near-real-time station rankings.
What They Said: Joe D’Angelo, Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy and Partnerships at Xperi: “This agreement with Cumulus marks a major step toward deterministic measurement in broadcast radio. By leveraging large-scale, aggregated in-car listening data, broadcasters can move beyond traditional sample-based measurement toward large-scale data-driven audience insights. Enabling better programming decisions, stronger advertiser accountability, and more competitive positioning in a data-driven media landscape.”
Bob Walker, President of Operations, Cumulus Media: “We’re proud to be the first broadcaster to deploy AutoStage Broadcaster Portal Premium as part of our broader effort to bring new sources of audience insight to radio. The platform gives us access to a level of audience intelligence that hasn’t previously been available. It creates new opportunities for content creators, sales teams, and advertisers alike. The AutoStage heat maps are a particularly compelling example. Visually illustrating where listening is concentrated, on an aggregated basis, relative to advertiser locations. By giving advertisers a richer understanding of audience distribution and listening trends, the platform helps them plan more effective campaigns, optimize audience-level planning, and maximize the impact of their radio investments.”
What Remains Unclear: Xperi hasn’t disclosed a rollout timeline for Cumulus’s markets. Additionally, it’s unclear whether other major broadcasters will follow with similar licensing deals.
What It Means: Radio measurement is shifting from survey samples toward observed, deterministic data. Consequently, advertisers get sharper planning tools and broadcasters gain leverage to prove ROI. Cumulus Media is currently suing Nielsen, alleging that it operates a monopoly by forcing broadcasters to buy local ratings data in order to receive national ratings. This partnership with Xperi could set the template for how connected-car data reshapes audio analytics industry-wide.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.