What is the latest forecast of smart speaker adoption? Who uses them? Why should you care? If you write a blog or produce a podcast, you should care a whole lot, and here's why. According to Canalysis from May of this year, 100 million smart speakers will be adopted by the end of this year. But still, why should you care?
Bloggers, you care because this opens up a massive new market for you. And Podcasters, you care because podcast listeners own more smart speakers than the general population. And of the podcast listeners who own a smart speaker, NPR and Edison Research say that 24% listen to their favorite podcasts exclusively on their smart speaker.
Doug Hyde, from National & Local Insights at Cumulus & Westwood One says, "Podcast listeners are a driving force in the smart speaker revolution. They use smart speakers 2.5 times more often than the average audio consumer. Podcast listeners’ adoption of smart speakers even tops that of the Millennials 18-34, arguably the most tech-savvy population group, and users of Pandora and Spotify." And, podcast listeners are almost twice as likely to own a smart speaker compared to the general population, again from NPR and Edison Research.
So, put these two trends together. 100 million speakers will be adopted by the end of 2018, podcast listeners exceed the general population in adopting and listening. This tells you that smart speakers are the future of podcasts (and read-out-loud blogs.) This is where you should be focusing. Your new market is here and your current listeners or readers will be moving here. They will want you available on a smart speaker. Make sure you are being heard! Take advantage of this new medium! And of course, if you would like your personal brand represented on Alexa, Create My Voice can get you there.
