Just days after the Media Ratings Council revoked accreditation for four Nielsen Audio PPM markets while denying accreditation for an additional 18 PPM markets, Xperi Inc. is gearing up for a potentially positive and pivotal appearance at NAB Show New York, which opens Wednesday at the Javits Center. That’s because its DTS AutoStage Broadcast Portal market total just jumped significantly.
Publicly traded Xperi, which trades on the NYSE, says the portal’s total coverage has grown to 550 markets across 49 states, including 173 “previously under-measured small and mid-sized broadcast markets.”
At the same time, Xperi says the DTS AutoStage offering has expanded its feature set to include weekday and weekend station rankings as well as enhanced, ready-to-share reports for Premium tier users.
“Until now, reliable radio data has mostly been a ‘big-market’ advantage. The AutoStage Broadcaster Portal changes that by bringing actionable listening insights to broadcasters who have never had them,” said Xperi Sr. VP of Commercial Strategy and Partnerships Joe D’Angelo. “For example, a station in a smaller town of 20,000 people can now see its audience data with the same clarity as a station in New York or Los Angeles.”
That’s a veiled stab at Nielsen Audio, which has come under scrutiny — just as the audio measurement company it acquired, Arbitron — received from many across the U.S. radio industry for its audience data collection methods. One complaint was the lack of data for markets that were never measured or haven’t seen ratings data in eons.
Xperi’s response? “The AutoStage platform, which measures more than 48 million hours of in-vehicle AM/FM listening data each month, recently added new markets ranging from Grand Junction, Colo.; and Altoona, Pa.; to Ithaca, N.Y.; and Key West. Many of these markets were previously radio ‘data deserts:’ stations that have been without audience measurement for years. Each new market receives data from at least 1,600 vehicles.”
Of the new markets, the South, led by North Carolina and Texas with 17 each, is benefitting from the greatest coverage expansion. In the Midwest, Ohio’s overall coverage has more than doubled, while Wyoming has access to the Portal’s radio audience measurement for the first time in Cheyenne, Xperi added.
“We now publish radio data in more than double the number of markets of any other audience measurement service,” D’Angelo boasted. “And each station in these markets can benefit from the Portal’s data at no cost, through our free standard tier.”
The 246 new markets add approximately 1 million vehicles to the AutoStage Broadcaster Portal’s coverage, for a total of 7.7 million U.S. vehicles.
Notably, Cumulus Media in July 2026 became the first commercial licensee of the AutoStage Broadcaster Portal Premium tier. The company, which recently emerged from bankruptcy protection, is embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with Nielsen over business practices Cumulus has assailed.
Additionally, Zoellner Media Group and Seven Mountains Media recently signed on for the Portal’s Premium tier, Xperi said.
Xperi will demonstrate the expanded Portal at the NAB Show New York, October 21-22, at the Javits Center, by appointment only.
