A Week in France – Focus on Radio

Key members of the DTS Connected Car team converged on the Paris region in mid-June to attend the RedTech Executive Summit and WorldDAB Automotive events.

This second edition of the RedTech Executive Summit – an event where DTS / Xperi is a founding sponsor – was held at the beautiful Chateau de la Tour, about 50km north of Paris near the town of Chantilly, which is famous for its cream!

The event took place over two days and brought together a carefully curated audience of 50 CEOs and CTOs from across the world to discuss the latest topics that are of relevance to radio broadcasters and their technology suppliers. This year the audience came from as far away as Malaysia, the USA and South Africa.

Key topics that were discussed included how to grow revenue and audiences in a non-linear world, how regulation in Europe should be shaped, the potential for generative AI in radio and the emerging technology that radio should keep an eye on.

The event gave the Xperi team valuable insights into these topics and also gave them the opportunity to showcase DTS AutoStage live in two demo cars: a Tesla Model Y and Mercedes S-Class. The broadcast executives in the attendance were given front-row seats to a visually rich augmented radio experience powered by DTS AutoStage, whose stated mission is to maintain radio’s dominance and relevance when compared to streaming services. The executives also found Joe D’Angelo’s presentation big data for radio as exemplified by the DTS AutoStage on Broadcaster Portal extremely compelling.

Following the RedTech Summit, the DTS Connected Car team headed into central Paris for the WorldDAB Automotive gathering which was held at Radio France’s HQ – La Maison de la Radio – on the banks of the Seine. This annual event, hosted in a different city each year, focuses on the automotive sector and how DAB radio is featured in the dashboard.

Joe D’Angelo, SVP Broadcast Radio presents at the RedTech Executive Summit

The conference had about 200 attendees in person and another 300 online. The sessions were held in both French and English with simultaneous translation and they covered the continued importance of broadcast radio for Europe’s public service media, how to keep radio prominent in the dashboard in a world of streaming and personalisation and the connected car.

Joe D’Angelo chaired a panel with Lindsey Mack from BBC Sounds and Caroline Beasley, CEO of Beasley Media Group. The discussion took a deeper dive into audience behaviours using data from the Broadcaster Portal to demonstrate how DAB+ is becoming the foundational source of radio listening in Europe. Joe also led a discussion on the latest in-cabin design trends, the introduction of Android Automotive OS 14 and the impact of multiple screens on the radio experience.

DTS also hosted multiple demonstrations for the conference attendees and Radio France employees in the Tesla and Mercedes that were positioned on the building forecourt.