The best app few outside of the radio industry are familiar with is getting a big boost at the NAB Show — thanks to in-dashboard vehicle integration with various car manufacturers and third-party integrators.
Those moves are part of NextRadio‘s effort to deliver “an unprecedented in-dash entertainment experience.”
It’s also a pivot from the Emmis Communications-backed app’s primary push to get all FM chips in smartphones activated, as NextRadio allows for local FM listening “data free” in Android-powered smartphones. Apple has been a stumbling block for NextRadio, as the company has not reached an accord over the activation of FM chips within iPhones.
At the NAB Show, NextRadio will share how it seeks to be “on par with music apps,” and accessible in both smartphones and connected cars. That’s because it’s going to “compete” with TuneIn through the summer 2017 launch of a streaming app — bringing radio to devices without FM chips.
This is a big shift for NextRadio, as it has been touting its data-free access to local radio. But, it could provide a big payoff needed for NextRadio to build critical mass and awareness. This could also put NextRadio in the same league as the iHeartRadio App while landing a location on the “connected car” dashboard next to apps for such internet-based audio streaming services as Pandora and Spotify.
NextRadio presently offers access to 15,000 stations across the U.S., and having it front-and-center on the dashboard of the present — and future — could be of interest to those in the radio industry C-Suite concerned about the ease of tuning to FM radio from an automobile.
The NAB Show will also see NextRadio take a lead position in a session focused on broadcast radio measurement in a digital world. That’s where the first details of the NextRadio streaming app will be shared, ahead of its anticipated Q3 debut.
NAB Attendees may attend the In-Dash and Dial Report Press Conference on April 24 at 10:30am Pacific at the Las Vegas Convention Center – North 5113. The Dial Report session is set for 1:45pm Pacific, in N257.
