Izabela and I talk about the much awaited Apple CarPlay. What role does this device play for broadcasters, radio stations, podcasters and musicians? We find out how it’s integrated into a car’s dashboard and some travel statistics in this episode.
To tell you the honest truth, I’m not the biggest car fan and Izabela definitely knows that. She’s actually the driver in the family which gives her the right to demand a new car. Getting a new car may not be necessary as we live on the Isle of Wight which is not exactly a huge driving destination. However Izabela has been thinking of getting a new car for the reason that we need a bigger car for our family and Apple CarPlay makes this purchase decision a little more exciting!
CarPlay vs. Connecting An iPhone via 3.5mm Jack
According to Apple’s website, CarPlay is a smarter, safer way to use you iPhone in the car. It takes the things you want to do with your iPhone while driving and puts them right on your car’s built-in display. You can get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, and listen to music, all in a way that allows you to stay focused on the road.
Special Mention Of The Podcasts App
We’ve noticed that Apple is paying attention to podcasts as they mentioned it twice on the CarPlay landing page. It’s incredibly interesting how they mentioned podcasts first before music and radio. This only shows that a big company like Apple recognises the importance and growth of podcasting. Izabela reckons that this sends a very clear message to everyone to pay attention to podcasting as it is the next big thing. It may seem that it’s still quite a bit geeky to listen to podcasts as it is not yet there in the mainstream but you know that a lot of our good friends talk about this year as the year for podcasts to have a huge impact.
AM, FM And Digital Radio Not Supported In Carplay
When CarPlay was announced, James Cridland who is a Radio Futurologist in the UK posted on Facebook that “it’s interesting how AM, FM and Digital Radio will not be supported as of now.”
Is Traditional Radio Dying?
I know many people would disagree to this but Izabela thinks that traditional radio is nearing it’s death. On a positive note, this just opens more opportunity for radio people, podcasters and musicians to be heard by a bigger audience on another platform. Definitely if you’re in radio, a podcaster or musician you have to go online as soon as possible so you can reach that captive audience of drivers who want content to listen to.
3 Key Points To Remember
1. If you’re creating speech content as a talk radio station or if you’re just talking into a mic you have to start podcasting which is going to be the way to get your speech content out there. Izabela thinks that eventually speech content will be replaced by the podcast.
2. With regards to music radio we feel that they are in a very weak position at the moment as they have not reinvented themselves. Music radio could not currently compete with a service that enables you to customise the music you would and you would not want to listen to (like for Izabela who doesn’t want to listen to 80s music). How can music radio suddenly compete with this? You can even subscribe to Spotify for $10 or £10 a month you’ll have an uninterrupted music playing without any advertising.
3. If you’re really passionate about music radio, if you’re a music radio station, a presenter or host, you need to be thinking of another way to reach that audience in cars and another way to make money. The way to monetise in the future is to go online, onto a stream so people can listen to it in their cars but more importantly you can’t put interruptive advertising on that stream because people will simply switch to Spotify or podcasts. Thus, you need to find another way to be profitable.
Support For Additional Audio Apps
CarPlay will support other Audio Apps. Imagine you can have your own App for your content on a car dashboard. This definitely revolutionizes how we listen to content. If you’re a content creator or a podcaster and want an “audio app” you have to seriously consider looking into what Spreaker is all about. Their CEO, Francesco Baschieri tweeted about it.
Supported Audio Apps at the moment are Podcasts, Beats Music (which a music streaming service only available in the US presently), iHeart Radio, Spotify and Stitcher.
Compatible Car Brands For CarPlay
CarPlay will be compatible with the iPhone 5 and up. The latest supporting car models and will be launched this year. It’s supported initially by car brands such as Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.
Car Travel Debate
Are people going to be driving as much as they have done as technology improves our lives? Izabela thinks that travel time in the future will reduce significantly but it is not something we need to be worrying about at this very moment. On the other hand, I see the idea that more people like to work from home. However there will always be people commuting to work such as those in the service industry. In conclusion, people will always need to travel to places and travelling takes time so what better way to use that time than to educate yourself with a podcast or entertain yourself with music.
Car Travel Statistics
I’ve done a little research of travel statistics in the UK and US as this is where most of our listeners are located. I found out that travel time is going down according to the UK and US Statistics.
UK Travel Statistics
Time spent travelling remained fairly static over time at around an hour a day. In 2012, residents of Great Britain spent an average of 361 hours per year travelling compared to 369 hours in 1995/97. Average trip time has increased by 11% over the period, from 20.4 minutes to 22.7 minutes.
Source: 2012 survey from Department for Transport.
US Travel Statistics
The mean trip length over all the reported vehicles is 18.1 minutes and 9.3 miles. Daily, the mean driving length is 74.9 minutes and 38.4 miles.
Source: How People Use Their Vehicles report from Microsoft.
20 Minutes Is The Perfect Podcast Length
Therefore I conclude that your ideal podcast length should be 20 minutes. Do remember to think about who the audience is so you have to make sure that those people indeed commute. Izabela would even want to make it 17 minutes to make sure that your listeners are getting the essence of your content just before they turn their devices off once they get to where they’re headed.
Where Do You Listen To The MRC Podcast?
Instagram us your picture where you are listening to the MRC Podcast. Use #helloMRC so we can see all your responses. If you don’t have an Instagram account you can tweet us and send us a picture of where you are listening to the MRC Podcast and use #helloMRC.
