2018 has seen a regular flow of surveys and studies showing the growth of smart-speaker ownership, particularly in the US, which remains the biggest market for these devices. Nielsen has now added a few more stats to the knowledge-pile, with the latest findings from its MediaTech Trender Survey.
There are few surprises: the trends here are already familiar. The percentage of US homes with at least one smart speaker grew from 22% in the first quarter of 2018 to 24% in the second quarter, according to Nielsen. Not that this is much of a guide for the full year, since it’s the fourth quarter – with its parade of new speakers and pre-Christmas buyers eyeing them up – that sees the biggest spikes in ownership.
Nielsen does have some data on multiple-smart-speaker ownership. “Of the US homes that have a smart speaker, four out of 10 have more than one device in the household,” claimed the company, while also citing the recency of many of these owners. “62% of smart speaker owners first started using the device within the last six months, with 45% planning to purchase more devices for their home.”
Americans are averaging 65 minutes a day during the week and 72 minutes a day at the weekend using their smart speakers, with music still the top activity. 90% of owners say they listen to music on their device(s), ahead of weather/traffic searches (81%); trivia and factual searches (75%); news listening (68%); ‘chatting with the voice assistant for fun’ (68%); and setting timers or alarms (also 68%). Meanwhile, 53% of users say they have an audio-streaming app synced with their smart speaker.
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