Every week we bring you a selection of the most buzzworthy headlines on voice-first and related topics. Here's the news roundup for June 16-23.
Voice Ads Continue To Resonate, Set Tone For Commerce. A new survey of 1,025 U.S. consumers about voice services, conducted by Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) found that voice ads are gaining credibility -- 39% said that hearing an ad on a smart speaker led to them buying the item. Additionally, 35% don’t skip through voice ads, suggesting consumers will listen to voice ads as a trade-off for a free service. Other findings: voice commerce is showing promise in adoption and growth, and celebrity voices in voice assistants are a popular request.
For more insights see CMO.com.
Loup Ventures Says 75% of U.S. Households Will Have Smart Speakers by 2025, Google to Surpass Amazon in Market Share, reports Voicebot.ai An updated smart speaker sales forecast model by Loup Ventures estimates 28% of 128 million U.S. households had a speaker by the end of 2018. That figure is expected to grow to 75% by 2025 taking into account population growth, this will represent over 100 million households. An additional 85 million households outside the U.S. are also expected to have smart speakers.
Ever wonder, how does voice assistant adoption varies by age group? Voicebot data on voice assistant ownership and usage by age group shows that younger consumers are more likely to own smart speakers. Some highlights of their findings:
- 34% of U.S. 18-29-year-olds owned a smart speaker at the beginning of 2019 while the figure for the over 60 population was just 20%.
- However, the frequency of smart speaker use is less age-dependent as 60 years and older device owners actually exceed that of the 18-29 group with 46.6% as daily users compared to 43.1% respectively. The 30-44 age group was most active with 51.3% daily users.
For more on smart speaker brand choice by age group, smart home device ownership by age group, smart speaker frequency of usage, and more see Voicebot.ai
Amazon's Alexa Developers announced in a blog post that it's adding over 2,500 sound clips across 50 categories to the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Sound Library. Developers can now build rich and engaging skill experiences that delight their customers with ASK’s nearly 3,000 samples (up from 400 in 14 categories).
Researchers at University of Washington have developed a new system using machine learning and AI that listens for a telltale gasping sound could get you vital help in time to prevent cardiac arrest. Scientists believe that a new tool that would use the mic in a smart assistant device or smartphone could be used to detect warning signs, and call for help, would help boost survival rates. (MIT Technology Review)
This sure is not the Monopoly set that we grew up with! The latest iteration of Monopoly, Monopoly Voice Banking, will be voice-activated. It'll come with an AI banker and property manager. Uncle Pennybags will speak and answer your questions through a device shaped like his top hat. It will also do away with paper money, instead, the AI banker will keep record of all transactions. It's available for pre-order, and is slated to hit stores July 1st. 🎩 (Engadget)
Congrats 360i for winning Grand Prix in Radio and Audio at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for HBO's "Westworld: The Maze"! (AdAge)
Save the Date
July 22-25: Dylan Zwick, Pulse Labs Co-Founder CPO, will be a speaker and panelist at VOICE Summit, July 22-25 in Newark, NJ. He'll give a VED Talk: "VUI vs GUI: Profound Difference between Voice Design and Visual Design" on July 23 and will be a panelist on "What is Inclusive Voice Design?" July 25th. Use the code DZ83 for 15% off: http://bit.ly/2YxOpLp.
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