Stingray

Paris – November 05, 2026 -- Stingray is pressing automakers to keep in-car entertainment in-house rather than cede the dashboard to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, using its Mondial de l'Auto appearance in Paris to make the case.

DATAxis panelists frame entertainment as an OEM battleground

At the DATAxis Conference ahead of the Paris Motor Show, industry leaders agreed that in-cabin experience increasingly shapes brand perception, customer loyalty and purchasing decisions as vehicles become software-defined. Tom Adams, who represented Stingray on the panel, said automakers should retain control of their "digital customer journey" instead of leaving it to third-party smartphone ecosystems.

Montreal – November 03, 2026 -- FAST platforms can no longer rely on the traditional 30-second pre-roll, and executives from Xumo, LG and Equativ say pause ads, shorter spots and direct sales are the way to protect CPMs. The panel, moderated by Stingray Chief Revenue Officer David Purdy at TVOT Montreal 2026, focused on raising revenue per hour without driving viewers away.

Pause ads and 6-second spots target CPM pressure

JF Cote, Board Member at Equativ, said younger audiences will not sit through long ad breaks, which is pushing the market toward 15-second and 6-second formats. Stefan Van Engen, VP of Content Programming and Partnerships at Xumo, said full-screen pause ads that trigger when a viewer pauses video-on-demand content are currently earning premium CPMs. Garrett Winkler, Head of LG Channels (US and Canada), said LG is testing interactivity, squeezebacks and overlays.

North America – November 03, 2026 -- Ford and Lincoln drivers in the U.S. and Canada will get new in-vehicle audio apps powered by Stingray starting in October, as automakers lean on infotainment to differentiate software-defined vehicles.

Stingray built a Ford karaoke app for passengers

Stingray worked with Ford on a karaoke experience that lets passengers in the front or rear seats sing along while the vehicle is moving. The same app can be used on the in-vehicle screen while parked. Stingray's in-cabin portfolio also includes OEM Audio, ZenLife and TuneIn.

Stingray builds its apps for AAOS, AOSP and HTML environments, or delivers them via API. The company cites nearly a decade of in-vehicle infotainment deployments worldwide.

Paris – November 03, 2026 -- Stingray demonstrated its Stingray Karaoke app inside the BYD Atto 3 at the Mondial de l'Auto, extending a partnership with the Chinese automaker that began with the product's first vehicle launch in 2022.

The show was dominated by Chinese and German manufacturers, and Stingray says in-cabin user experience has become a new battleground for consumer loyalty.

BYD split its Paris presence into two kiosks and six infotainment display cars

BYD ran one kiosk for its luxury Denza line and another for the Atto vehicles. Software partners animated the infotainment systems across six display cars. Denza was on the brink of its European launch.