Member-only story
Three Paths to Growth for Smart Speakers and Voice Technology
Last week, at the VOICE Summit at CES in Las Vegas, I presented the results of the latest Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research. For the past three years, as a part of this ongoing series, we have fielded a national study during the week between Christmas and New Years Day to determine how many Americans got a new smart speaker (Alexa, Google Home, etc.) under their Christmas tree/Menorah/Pagan Present Pole, in order to issue an updated national projection of ownership and usage. We conduct this study to the highest research standards, using mobile and landline sampling, to ensure the most representative estimate possible.
Our 2020 estimate is that 24% of Americans 18+ now own at least one smart speaker — and, in fact, the average owner has more than one.
Certainly, the fact that about one in four Americans has one of these devices in their home is significant and evidence of a rapidly-growing technology. And these devices are changing audio consumption behavior — we have previously published data in the Smart Audio Report that shows that smart speakers increase the consumption of spoken-word audio of all types, and certainly, audio…
