Market Research: One in Six Americans Now Owns a Voice-Activated Smart Speaker, Up 127% From January 2017 (New NPR/Edison Research Smart Audio Report Released)
From Edison Research and National Public Radio:
After a surge in holiday sales, one-in-six Americans (16%) now owns a voice-activated smart speaker (1), up 128% from January 2017 (2).
New surveys from NPR and Edison Research confirm continued and rapid increases in ownership of voice-activated smart speakers, and reinforce the increasing impact these devices are having on consumer behavior across a variety of technologies and platforms. One-in-six Americans now has a Smart Speaker (16%), up 128% since January 2017 according to a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,010 persons ages 18 and older fielded after Christmas 2017.
The 2017 holiday season was a benchmark moment for Smart Speaker sales: 7% of Americans report acquiring at least one Smart Speaker between Black Friday and the end of December 2017, and 4% report acquiring their first Smart Speaker device during the holidays.
Amazon continues to dominate the Smart Speaker category. More than two-thirds of Smart Speaker owners report having an Echo, Dot or other Alexa-based product. One quarter of Smart Speaker owners report having a Google Assistant product such as Google Home or Google Home Mini.
Based on this survey, Smart Speaker adoption is occurring on pace with the rapid adoption of smartphones a decade ago. Apple’s iPhone was introduced in Summer 2007. Three years later, Spring 2010, 14% of Americans owned a smartphone (Edison, Infinite Dial). Amazon’s Echo, the first smart speaker on the market, was introduced in November 2014. Today, three years later, 16% of Americans own a smart speaker.
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.