Cumulus Media Adopts Xperi's AutoStage Analytics

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, July 15, 2026 | 11:16am CT

Cumulus Media and Xperi

Cumulus Media has become the first commercial broadcaster to license Xperi's AutoStage Broadcaster Portal Premium, a new audience intelligence platform that provides near-census-level insights into in-car radio listening.

The agreement makes Cumulus the launch partner for the next-generation analytics platform, which uses aggregated connected-car data to provide near-real-time visibility into radio listening behavior. The broadcaster will deploy the platform across all 393 of its stations in 84 markets.

Xperi said the platform measures tens of millions of monthly AM/FM listening hours from more than 16 million connected vehicles worldwide, providing audience insights across 300 U.S. markets. The data includes share of listening, audience flow, geographic listening patterns, market-level reach and near-real-time station rankings by daypart.

For advertisers, the platform offers observed audience behavior, large next-day sample sizes and market-level listening trends to support more precise media planning and campaign measurement.

Joe D'Angelo, Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Partnerships at Xperi, said the agreement represents a significant step toward data-driven audience measurement for broadcast radio.

"By leveraging large-scale, aggregated in-car listening data, broadcasters can move beyond traditional sample-based measurement toward large-scale data-driven audience insights," D'Angelo said. "That enables better programming decisions, stronger advertiser accountability, and more competitive positioning in a data-driven media landscape."

Bob Walker, President of Operations for Cumulus Media, said the platform provides a new level of audience intelligence for broadcasters and advertisers. "We're proud to be the first broadcaster to deploy AutoStage Broadcaster Portal Premium as part of our broader effort to bring new sources of audience insight to radio," Walker said. "The AutoStage heat maps are a particularly compelling example, visually illustrating where listening is concentrated, on an aggregated basis, relative to advertiser locations."

The companies said the partnership addresses the industry's longstanding need for more timely, directly observed audience data, particularly for in-car listening, where the majority of radio consumption takes place. They added that the technology brings digital-style accountability and measurement to broadcast radio while helping stations optimize programming and improve advertiser return on investment.