Smart Speaker Adoption Insights 2018
Smart Speaker Adoption Insights 2018
REPORT
MARCH 2018
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Table of Contents About Voicebot Sponsors
1. INTRODUCTION // 3 Voicebot produces the leading online publication,
newsletter and podcast focused on the voice and AI
2. METHODOLOGY // 4 industries. Thousands of entrepreneurs, developers, GIVING VOICE TO A REVOLUTION
4. SMART SPEAKER USE CASES // 16 and insights defining the trajectory of the next great
computing platform. At Voicebot, we give voice to a
5. VOICE COMMERCE // 19 revolution.
8. CONCLUSION // PAGE 28
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
Consumer Adoption Report Amazon is the largest ecommerce retailer in the U.S. and its Amazon Echo smart speaker was the
found that 19.7% of U.S. number one selling product on its online store in both 2016 and 2017. CEO Jeff Bezos claimed
before the 2017 holiday shopping season that the company had already sold tens of millions of
adults have access to Alexa-enabled products. Google revealed in January that more than one Google Home products
were sold every second between October and December 2017. That is at least 7.6 million units
smart speakers today. for a single vendor that commanded no more than one third of the market in 2017.
That is up from less than What is clear is that smart speakers are popular and unit sales are consistently exceeding analyst
1% of the population just projections. In addition, the devices are introducing consumers to voice interaction in the home
and carrying that expectation over to smartphones and a variety of use cases, including shopping.
two years ago. Welcome to the new voice-first world.
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
downward to provide an aggregate speaker sales have grown about fifteen fold. That
ownership level. Other findings are was less than two years ago. The brains behind smart We hope you find the data informative and encourage
relative to smart speaker owners speakers have also refused to be contained within you to read Voicebot.ai throughout the year to track
and do not require adjustment. audio devices. You can now find voice assistant access updates to market adoption figures and stay informed
in televisions, household appliances, lamps, smoke about other studies tracking the trajectory of voice
detectors and hundreds of millions of smart phones. and AI technologies.
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Smart Speaker Ownership
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
19.7% of U.S. Adults Use Smart Speakers Gender Breakdown of U.S. Smart Speaker Users
42.2% 57.8%
Female Male
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
65.7%
19.3%
8%
7% +
Source: Voicebot Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report January 2018
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT SMART SPEAKER OWNERSHIP
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
Amazon Still Has a 3.5 Times Larger Installed User Base Than Google
Independent device manufacturers reach nearly 10% market share
Amazon commands nearly 72% market share today narrowed considerably in 2017 and both companies Smart Speaker Market Share Installed Base 2017
among U.S. adults followed by Google with 18.4% launched products in Japan in the same week.
and other manufacturers posting 9.7%. There are
many forecasts that show Google with a higher U.S. consumers also have a wide variety of smart 9.7%
market share for 2017 sales. To be clear, this survey speakers to select from manufacturers not named Other
measured total installed user base or cumulative Amazon or Google. The leader of the back-of-the-
market share and Amazon is still benefitting from its pack is Sonos. The important footnote about Sonos is
two-year time to market lead. With that said, Google that it uses Amazon Alexa as its voice assistant. That
made impressive inroads in 2017 and the market means the market share of the Alexa voice assistant is
18.4%
share gap is likely to close further in 2018. even higher than 72% of users. Other Alexa-enabled
Google
smart speakers include the low-priced Eufy and a 71.9%
The biggest voice technology story of 2017 was the high-priced Harman Kardon model. Harman Kardon Amazon
fierce battle between Amazon and Google. Amazon’s also has the Microsoft Cortana-enabled Invoke and
Echo smart speaker position in the U.S. is particularly Google Assistant is available through JBL, Sony and
strong. Google Home by contrast has staked out a a few other devices. The data in this chart is strictly
lead in several other countries such as Canada, France related to device market share and not voice assistant
and Australia. Amazon’s lead in UK and Germany user share.
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
The Amazon Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers have been in the market the longest Device Market Share Breakdown 2017
and unsurprisingly command the largest share of users. An interesting finding is the
AMAZON GOOGLE OTHER
higher priced Echo and Google Home have matched sales with the lower priced Dot
Other
and Mini respectively. Part of this is a function of timing. Both Dot and Mini entered Echo Home Devices
the market about one year after Echo and Home respectively. However, while Mini 35.8% 8.7% 6.4%
overtook its older sibling in just three months, the Amazon Echo Dot still trails the
Echo in total user reach after about 15 months.
This parity in high and low priced model adoption is an interesting development.
It may be that many owners of single devices opt for the higher priced and better Home
Echo Dot
Mini
sounding Echo and Home. By contrast, it may be that many of the additional devices 32.3% 9%
in households are the lower-priced units. This share breakdown does not reveal Sonos
One
total volume of sales. It represents users with access to particular devices. The other
2.6%
notable data point is how few Harman Kardon Invoke devices are in use at only 0.6%.
On the other end of the spectrum there is Sonos One. The Alexa-enabled smart
speaker carved out a respectable 2.6% market share in only about three months. Harman Kardon
Other Echo Devices Home Max Invoke
3.9% 0.6% 0.6%
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
22%
More likely to own a smart speaker
8.5%
More likely to have made a purchase
4.6%
More likely to use 3rd party skills
30%
Less likely to own a Google smart speaker
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
76.7% 42.7%
of iOS iPhone of Android
owners have smartphone
tried Apple Siri owners have tried
Google Assistant
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Smart Speaker Use Cases
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
is a better indicator of actual smart speaker utility. Check the weather 85.2% 69.1% 41.4%
Set a timer 71.4% 51.8% 24.1%
The top seven categories are identical for the daily,
Listen to radio 68.8% 47.6% 25.5%
monthly and ever tried response categories but the
Set an alarm 65.7% 48% 25.3%
order changes and smart home creeps into the daily
Listen tonews / sports 58.1% 39.4% 14.8%
list pushing out news and sports. Use daily
Play game or answer trivia 52.3% 31.2% 11.1%
Find a recipe or cooking instructions 49.5% 26.5% 5.1% Use monthly
This is completely logical. Activities such as listening 46.5% 29.8% 14.7%
Use a favorite skill or assistant app
to music, checking the weather and controlling smart 41.2% 25.8% 7.7% Have ever tried
Check traffic
home devices occur already with high frequency Call someone 40.7% 22.7% 10.3%
and smart speakers are simply shifting that behavior Listen to podcasts and other talk formats 40.7% 24.1% 10.1%
to voice interaction. The data confirm that smart Control smart home devices 38.1% 29.9% 20.8%
speakers are being incorporated into everyday lives of Access my calendar 35.1% 19.6% 6.2%
consumers: 63% report using them daily and 77% at Message someone 34.2% 17.9% 8.2%
Made a purchase 26% 11.5% 2.1%
least weekly.
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0 50 100 150 200 PAGE 16
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
Adoption of Voice Apps, Smart Home, Calling and Messaging Have Room for Growth
Third-Party Voice Apps through their voice assistant and about 46.5% have both callers to have a smart speaker. Even with the
tried a “favorite skill or assistant app.” The games recent updates to enable calling directly to telephone
Listening to music is the top use case for both are most likely third-party voice apps as are smart numbers not associated with a smart speaker, this
monthly and daily periods. Checking the weather and home controls so the overall numbers seem close to feature still requires more than one person to execute.
asking questions are also popular, but you also see 50% to match our other finding that 48.2% report The other use cases can be done alone so there
radio listening along with timers and alarms as high in having tried a third-party voice app. Maybe the more are no dependencies. The fact that 10.3% of smart
both consumer trial and frequency of use. Answering important finding is that only about 30% of users speaker owners say they are using their devices to
questions, timers and alarms are first-party skills. They access third-party voice apps at least monthly. That call or message someone daily is a significant change
are provided directly by the voice assistant platform. may mean that few voice apps today are designed in behavior. The increased availability of video calling
Weather can be first-party or provided by third-party to drive frequent repeat usage. Developers have an through smart displays may cause this figure to grow
voice apps. Music is generally considered second- opportunity to significantly grow their user base by even faster in 2018.
party (same company but offered by a different attracting new users that historically haven’t tried
division so not truly native to the voice assistant) or third-party voice apps and then getting everyone to Smart Home
third-party. Radio is always third-party as are most come back for more. The re-engagement challenge
smart home and news and sports offerings. We can was addressed on mobile predominantly through Smart home voice apps are used frequently by people
conclude from the data that users routinely access a notifications. It is unlikely developers will be able to that adopt the capabilities. While only 38% of smart
mix of first-party skills and third-party voice apps. rely on that tactic for voice. speaker owners have ever tried a smart home voice
app, over half of them use the features daily. This makes
Beyond the most popular use cases, the story of Calling and Messaging sense as smart home devices such as turning on lights
third-party voice app usage is mixed. There is likely or controlling the thermostat are daily activities in the
some confusion among smart speaker owners about Calling and messaging usage represents another physical world that are simply being made accessible by
the difference between a third-party skill or voice interesting finding. The fact that 40% have tried voice. Contrast this with asking questions where only
app and the native, first-party capabilities. We see to call or message someone through their smart about one-third of smart speaker owners that have
that over 50% of users have tried a game or trivia speaker is interesting because it previously required tried this feature claim to use it daily.
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
Once a smart speaker enters a household it appears Even more interesting is the finding that 34% of smart
to generate regular use. And, this isn’t just about speaker owners utilize the devices several times per
music listening. Answering questions, checking day. The data suggest that smart speakers are no fad,
the weather and playing games all rate highly on a but instead are being incorporated into consumers’
monthly basis. daily lives.
12.7% 12.7%
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Voice Commerce
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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Voice App Discovery
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
It is worth noting from the start that 48.2% of smart The Mechanisms of Voice App Discovery
speaker owners claim to not discover third party voice
apps at all. Of those who do, most discover voice apps I don’t
through friends (22.5%). Beyond generating strong 48.2%
word of mouth promotion, voice app publishers need to Friends
employ a variety of tactics to drive user adoption since 22.5%
no single approach has enough effectiveness to work on Alexa skill store / Google Assistant discover section
Promotion at 17%
its own. discretion of
voice assistant Email newsletter from Alexa or Google Assistant
platforms 13.8%
After friends, the voice app/skill promotion by Google
and Amazon are the most effective tactics, but not Social media
something in the control of developers. Less effective 13.8%
are the Amazon and Google suggestions about what News media
voice apps to try. And, developers have no control of 10.6%
this promotion tactic either. Social media and PR are the Things to try in Alexa app or discover section in Google Assistant app
best bet to generate interest and the tactics where voice 8.7%
app publishers can make the most direct impact. Other
5.1%
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Non-Owners Speak Out
SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
19.7%
current smart
speaker
owners
9.8%
Non-owners who
expect to
purchase a smart
speaker this year
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SMART SPEAKER CONSUMER ADOPTION REPORT
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