Consumer attitudes toward in-car entertainment and media preferences highlighted in new Gracenote automotive report

60% say infotainment systems are a critical purchasing or leasing consideration, underscoring value of high-quality native offerings

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report by Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, highlights a significant opportunity for car manufacturers to provide consumers easy access to entertainment content across a range of services and types. By optimizing the native in-car infotainment experiences people want, auto brands can gain the power to influence decision-making and drive more revenue.

Harnessing all the entertainment content the internet has to offer, and corralling it neatly for easy consumption, is challenging for automakers and drivers alike. Those car brands able to overcome this challenge stand to forge stronger relationships with their customers, increase differentiation and leverage new monetization opportunities.

The Gracenote report highlights that 94% of consumers across the U.S., Germany, Japan and South Korea would consider switching from using their smartphones for in-car entertainment to the in-dash system if the offerings were improved. This level of interest points to opportunities for manufacturers to attract customers leading to increased monetization through channels including in-car advertising, referrals and analytics data. Notably, 60% say that infotainment systems play a critical role in their decisions on which cars they want to buy or lease.

Drivers today want broad yet seamless media experiences that go beyond what they can access through phone tethering. The new Gracenote report, for example, highlights that 82% of drivers would be interested in curated entertainment packages. Drivers also want easier content discovery and navigation, with only 45% saying they know exactly what they want to listen to when they start a drive.

Other key findings of the report include:

• 67% of vehicle owners want their in-car infotainment system to organize available content regardless of source (e.g. AM/FM radio, podcasts, streaming audio)
• 63% want infotainment systems to provide personalized content recommendations based on listening behavior
• 51% want access to summaries and alerts for news, live sports scores and stats
• 28% want access to more news and talk content in their vehicles

"Consumers want to easily navigate the wealth of available audio, video and sports content from various sources in their cars – and automakers are responding," said Trent Wheeler, Head of Product Innovation at Gracenote. "By delivering personalized entertainment experiences through their native infotainment systems, car brands can build new relationships with their customers and ultimately, jumpstart recurring revenue streams."

The new Gracenote automotive report is based on a recent survey of more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S., Germany, Japan and South Korea. To download the free report, click here.

Gracenote's global entertainment metadata coverage and advanced delivery capabilities help automakers maximize the value of their native infotainment offerings, own relationships with consumers and drive incremental revenue. Extensive radio coverage includes data for 150K+ stations in 195 countries, 575+ news podcasts, music data for 100M+ tracks globally, data for 70 of the world's most popular sports as well as TV show and movie data for 260+ streaming video catalogs. To learn more about the Gracenote Nexus Auto offerings, click here.

About Gracenote
Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen, providing entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings to the world's leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote has aggregated, normalized and enriched core program metadata covering 40M+ titles in 260+ streaming catalogs in 70+ languages and 80+ countries. Gracenote technology enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals to easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler. For more information, visit Gracenote.com.

SOURCE Gracenote