The most tech-obsessed drivers on the road turn out to be radio’s biggest fans, too. Audacy’s newest connected-car research finds that drivers eager for AI-powered vehicle features listen to AM/FM and radio apps at far higher rates than other drivers.
Audacy’s 2026 Connected Car Study, the sixth wave of research the company has conducted since 2021, finds that AI Intenders, drivers who want more AI-powered features in their next vehicle, listen to traditional radio at a 65% clip, compared with 49% of all respondents, and to podcasts at 48%, compared with 23% overall. They also over-index on music library apps (56% versus 32%), radio stations accessed through an audio app (51% versus 28%), music videos on YouTube (46% versus 31%), and audiobooks (34% versus 14%).
Roughly half of AI Intenders listen through a radio app.
Seven in 10 connected-car drivers turn to local radio for breaking news, weather, and traffic ahead of social media and phone apps, and 73% specifically prefer local radio to social media and phone apps for local headlines. 69% say they always want to hear recognizable voices from their favorite stations while driving. About a quarter want even more ways to connect with trusted local voices in their next vehicle.
For advertisers, radio ads outperform in-app map ads at every stage of the consumer journey, according to the study, from 53% versus 30% at the awareness stage to 44% versus 26% at the recommendation stage, with similar gaps at consideration, trial, and loyalty.
More than half of connected-car drivers use the dashboard to control audio, nearly on par with making calls and navigation and well ahead of messaging, video, calendars, and games. Demand for voice-controlled audio has doubled since 2021, and 54% of connected-car drivers want fully integrated voice in their next system; the top voice actions are playing radio, music, and podcasts (57%) and discovering new audio content (50%), while 32% use voice controls to chat with AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini.
As previously reported, bigger dashboard screens, ranging from 14-inch displays in midsize SUVs to the Mercedes-Benz EQS’s 56-inch hyperscreen, are opening new advertising real estate. 65% of drivers say an audio ad paired with an on-screen visual makes them more likely to remember the advertiser and search for it later. Autonomous driving is expanding that opportunity further, with 36% of connected-car drivers in 2026 saying the technology allows them to explore new types of audio content, twice the share who said so in 2024.
After hearing a radio ad in the car, 45% of connected-car drivers look up information about the advertiser, 45% discuss the product with friends or family, 39% purchase the advertised product, and 36% visit the advertiser’s brick-and-mortar location, according to the study.
A 2025 study of Quu’s Visual Network found that 83% of adults with in-dash displays noticed on-screen brand visuals while listening to broadcast radio, driving gains of 50% to 89% across every stage of the marketing funnel, from awareness to purchase. Slogan familiarity rose by an average of 57%, with the steepest lifts in financial services (+136%) and convenience retail (+113%), reinforcing the connection Audacy’s own data draws between audio-visual pairing and advertiser recall.
