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I suppose this was inevitable. If you have one of the newer car radios - the kind with a screen - you may have seen the display that appears when you tune in FM. It sometimes shows you the logo of the station you're listening to and often tells you the name of the song and the artist that's playing.
But now advertisers are looking to occupy that space and money hungry radio outlets may be more than happy to provide it. According to a new study, sponsors are willing to spend more for a spot if a logo or text about their business appears alongside it in the car.
According to Radio Ink:
"A May study conducted by Advertiser Perceptions highlights a significant brand shift in interest towards in-car visual ads synced with AM/FM broadcasts, with 80% of agencies and advertisers showing interest in in-dash visuals, a rise from 64% in 2021."
So far I haven't seen this and I don't know if it's happening anywhere in Canada. But that doesn't mean it might not be coming. The good news is they're pretty easy to ignore. The bad news is they can be distracting and hey, who really needs more advertising in their face when they're behind the wheel?
Would you find this as annoying as it sounds or would it be simply a good way for impoverished radio stations to bring in a bit more revenue?
Study: Brands Will Invest 16% More On Radio With In-Car Visuals
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Couldn't that lead to distracted driving?
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turkeytop wrote:
Couldn't that lead to distracted driving?
Yes it will.
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Just another reason to keep my boring beige 2006 Toyota Camry which is in excellent condition and gets me from point A to point B. Plus it has an AM/FM radio instead of an "Entertainment System"
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Rogers is already putting advertisers' names on the RDS display when commercials air, or at least that was the case when I was visiting the North Bay area last summer. Noticed it on Kiss 100.5 (CHUR-FM)... an example would be "Sponsored by Food Basics". Only problems would be a) how quickly the station's playout system and RDS encoder can send out new data, and b) whether a receiver would pick up the data and update the display before the next spot airs... RDS probably doesn't update as quickly as whatever text or image data comes in on an HD signal, plus it depends on how well the radio picks up the 57 kHz RDS subcarrier.
Worth noting is that CHUR has a very strong 100 kW signal from the CBC tower on North Bay's east edge, and at Marten River (beautiful spot btw), our 2019 GMC Terrain had no problems getting a clean RDS signal from that station.
Last edited by Forward Power (June 18, 2024 10:00 am)
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Forward Power wrote:
Rogers is already putting advertisers' names on the RDS display when commercials air, or at least that was the case when I was visiting the North Bay area last summer. Noticed it on Kiss 100.5 (CHUR-FM)... an example would be "Sponsored by Food Basics". Only problems would be a) how quickly the station's playout system and RDS encoder can send out new data, and b) whether a receiver would pick up the data and update the display before the next spot airs... RDS probably doesn't update as quickly as whatever text or image data comes in on an HD signal, plus it depends on how well the radio picks up the 57 kHz RDS subcarrier.
Worth noting is that CHUR has a very strong 100 kW signal from the CBC tower on North Bay's east edge, and at Marten River (beautiful spot btw), our 2019 GMC Terrain had no problems getting a clean RDS signal from that station.
Same with Jack 102.3 in London and CHYM 96.7 in K/W. Their RDS shows advertisers during ad breaks.
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I've already seen RDS readouts with names and numbers for law firms and such, for a few years already. It's as distracting as the name of the song and artist, and the other gazillion things on the screen. I'm waiting for those special eyepatch headsets.
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It's interesting to me that this is, in fact, happening here. I haven't noticed it on my still relatively new car radio, but then I'm probably not listening to a lot of FM, beyond the HD signals from some AM broadcasters.
I don't actually like screens of any kind in cars - it's too tempting to look at or fool around with them. And that's not a good thing while you're driving. Offering messages about specials or logos from the company will only making things worse in my mind.
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Just change the screen to "Home" or "Settings" or "Phone" for example. Radio plays, but the screen is static with something besides the radio.
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In my Equinox, I always get a message on the screen saying "Taking your eyes off the road is unsafe." Of, course, I have to take my eyes off the road to read the message and keep my eyes off the road long enough to delete the message.
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Gee, can't wait to see 'Fiona', 'Callum' and the globe-trotting 'Sarah', when she isn't flogging GotJunk, in the flesh. As for the other moron, who supposedly bought the company, but has no idea what they sell, who cares?