Cars: The Next Frontier for Streaming Media Apps

Consumers demand more from their cars than ever before. Not only must they go from Point A to Point B, but deliver a comfortable ride and offer a great, quality experience. In-car amenities walk a blended physical and digital line, whether you’re talking about the comfort of the seats or functionality of the infotainment system.

Automobile manufacturers are the arbiters of quality for most of the in-car experience. However, in-car infotainment systems are becoming more extensible and connected with outside apps. This opens up a world of possibilities — and also some unique challenges.

For streaming media providers, car infotainment systems are no longer out-of-scope platforms. Moving forward, it will no longer be enough to test on smart TVs, OTT boxes, laptops and mobile phones. They must also test the experience on that 4,000-pound device speeding down the road, in varying network conditions, multiple markets and with safety in mind.

That challenge is by no means a smooth ride, but the media brands that succeed will find themselves in the driver’s seat for an emerging market opportunity. Let’s discuss the challenges of maintaining high quality for media apps in car infotainment systems.

Changing in-car personas

Automobiles are in the midst of a significant transformation. With more than 1 billion active cars on the road, and new tech-enabled fleets emerging every year, consumers rely on vehicles as much as ever — but not quite the same way as before. No longer are cars simply analog commute vehicles with one simple infotainment mechanism. Now, they serve a variety of customer needs of varying personas: hands-on drivers, hands-off drivers, passengers, back-seat passengers, digital nomads and more. Catering to one does not mean catering to all, especially as consumer expectations for digital products have escalated over the years.

Consider a driver’s experience in a vehicle. Their primary concern is operating the vehicle safely, including receiving any alerts the car provides. They might enjoy audio-only forms of media, including podcasts and streaming music players, but would be unable to enjoy video players. Though their needs might change when they need to charge a car at an EV charging station, in which case they might want to watch a show on their in-car infotainment system rather than on a phone. Contrast that experience with a backseat passenger, such as a child, who might greatly prefer the ability to watch their favorite show or movie while the car is in motion. A front-seat passenger might also want to take advantage of streaming media availability during long drives.

But that’s just the start of it. Over the last few years, consumers expect their cars to enable their lifestyles. Digital nomads, professionals who leverage remote work to travel around the country, are up 131% from 2019 to 2023, according to MBO Partners. That’s more than 17 million Americans, mostly Millennials and Gen Xers, who might essentially call their vehicles home. Add that to people that travel the country in RVs, rideshare drivers in need of a break and outdoor enthusiasts, such as campers. These individuals might need their phones for other purposes and prefer the simplicity of an infotainment system.  

Whether it’s an audio-only service or a video streaming service, these apps must work as expected in vehicles, just as they are expected to work on any other device. Automobile manufacturers are becoming more tech- and software-savvy in their attempts to court younger demographics with high expectations in their automotive UX. When an app fails, it’s easy for the consumer to place blame on the media provider — one app works, the other doesn’t — rather than the automotive company.

Limited resources; unlimited options

It’s been a roller coaster ride for streaming media brands over the last few years. Growth at all costs is no longer an option, and many brands have unfortunately scaled back on QA resources. Even if many media brands find their path to profitability, the scales will likely always be tipped against digital quality — there’s too much to test, and not enough time or resources to test it all internally.

Testing teams thin on resources must validate their brand’s experiences on a world’s worth of mobile, tablet and OTT devices. Device labs and emulators have limitations, leaving quality blind spots. Adding vehicles on top of that makes a bad equation worse — it’s beyond impractical to acquire a fleet of vehicles for testing purposes. Even then, media companies must test vehicle-device-network combinations, and potentially multiple per vehicle as infotainment systems become more sophisticated with separate screens pairing to separate devices. Device lab manufacturers are likely unable or unwilling to cater to these personas, even if market adoption makes it an imperative.

Old mobile devices in new cars; new mobile devices in old cars; new mobile devices in new cars, some of which are unique to particular markets — it’s a dizzying array of possibilities that can leave any software manufacturer playing catch-up. Millions of automobiles are manufactured every year, according to ACEA, to go along with hundreds of millions of smartphones, according to IDC.

At what point does your testing strategy reveal its flaws, and at what point does your device lab reveal its limitations? Most importantly, what’s your strategy for overcoming these constraints, especially in the face of tight QA budgets?

DRM on the go

When a user pays for a content title, either to “own” or “rent,” they are granted a license to view the content. This content license has certain parameters on how and where they can view this content. A rental period typically has a shorter duration, while owning the content might not have a time limit, but a platform limit.

Consider the context of purchasing one of these licenses to view or watch in a car. The user must be able to access the content, even if it was purchased on another device, including in low-connectivity situations. If the user hasn’t yet purchased the content, streamers must be able to provide the functionality within the car, ideally in a low-friction manner. A blend of payment and customer journey testing with real-world users can validate these pathways.

Different regulatory and contractual limitations exist for content around the world. One country might outlaw in-car videos altogether, or a media company might license a specific content title in a specific country. These provide two unique areas to test in the context of automobiles as well. Border testing along state, regional and international borders can determine where streamers fail to adhere to contractual and legal standards, thereby avoiding friction or even legal disputes later.

Streaming media companies might have further need for localization testing in automobiles as these experiences evolve. While sufficiently localized app experiences (through comprehensive testing on other platforms) might suffice for most automobile experiences, areas like ad delivery could enable new strategic possibilities down the road — and these would also be subject to regulatory restrictions. Essentially, maintaining functionality, the user experience, and conformance with laws and contracts becomes a moving target, but a nonetheless important one.

Usable, accessible experiences

Voice-based interfaces are extremely important for in-car experiences from the driver’s perspective — and these platforms and integrations will continue to evolve. Streaming media apps must be able to work with these interfaces to ensure a safe driving experience that reduces friction compared to the driver using their hands to operate a device. For example, if a driver picks up a call, the app should switch audio to the phone call while also pausing the media experience to reduce frustration.

Odds are that most streaming media companies have never even considered validating the user experience for a blind passenger in a car. Well, with in-car infotainment experiences evolving to cater to front- and back-seat passengers, it is more important than ever to ensure accessibility for this growing customer base. The same challenges apply as they would with other platforms, ensuring people with disabilities can adequately engage with your streaming app.

How real-world drivers and passengers operate these experiences will ultimately determine testing priorities for media companies. But, in the meantime, too few companies are even considering the quality of these experiences, potentially leaving subscribers frustrated and seeking car-friendly alternatives.

Unlocking access to passengers, cars and devices

There’s a market opportunity for brands who prioritize new customer personas and believe in maintaining high digital quality. As your release partner, Applause can help you reach your destination.

Rather than purchase a fleet of vehicles and devices that could outnumber the army of a small country, turn to a fleet of more than one million digital experts, located all over the world. These experts use their own devices — and, yes, even vehicles — to conduct real-world, in-market testing. Applause grants access to these testers to help you achieve your unique and evolving digital quality goals, whether it’s validating that they can purchase a rental title with real payment instruments and then access that across all platforms, conduct user experience testing on in-car experiences or to simply validate the functionality and conformance of your apps. Applause testers are ready and waiting to help you deliver exceptional quality with a high ROI.

Let’s talk today about how Applause can help you deliver high-quality streaming experiences, seamless in-car infotainment systems, or both with our nimble, global approach.

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