NPR/Edison Research: With Smart Speaker Market Growth, Privacy and Security Concerns Grow Too

In the wake of data breaches across other industries Americans are rethinking how they interact with media and share personal informationamp160 Smart speakers are not immuneamp160 As more consumers adopt voiceassisted devices they39re also relenting to their potential pitfallsamp160 quotIt is an extension of a handshake agreementquot said NPR39s Vice President of New Platform Partnerships Joel Suchermanamp160 quotYou39re willing to give up a certain amount of data and privacy for something that makes your life betterquotIndeed a steadily growing number of Americans seem willing to make that tradeoffamp160 Smart speaker ownership hit 1185 million units in December 2018 almost double the previous year39s levelsamp160 For the one in five Americans who own at least one these devices are an integral part of everyday lifeamp160 Users call on them for a quotlitany of the mundanequot activities like weather reports and answering questions Edison Research39s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Tom Webster notedamp160 For many users one speaker simply isn39t enough some onethird of owners now have three or more which is up 17 from December 2017amp160 Sucherman alone says he counts five speakers in his home each serving a different functionBut both smart speaker owners and holdouts who haven39t purchased devices share concernsamp160 About 60 of each group expressed concerns about privacy and the potential of hackers accessing their informationamp160 Despite those qualms Edison and NPR report that 54 of smart speaker owners trust the manufacturers to keep their information secureamp160 That is a strong vote of confidence particularly in the current climateTo establish trust venerable media companies like NPR can certainly benefit from their existing relationships with consumersamp160 quotIt gives us an opportunity in the voicefirst space to make sure we are underlining those values and that we keep the trust of the individuals first and foremost as we continue to produce contentquot Sucherman saidNew Devices Create New OpportunitiesSpeakers are widely credited for boosting the audio industry and reviving radio in the homeamp160 Indeed about half of owners say they listen to more audio programming and listening to music ranks as the top smart speaker activity with threequarters of users saying they play music via their speakeramp160 About onethird of owners report they listen to live AMFM radio streams weekly on their speakers while about 40 of speaker users have requested their devices give them the news according to the reportamp160 NPR39s fiveminute News Now briefing alone gets 79M ondemand downloads each month and smart speaker users spend an average 29M hours per week listening to NPR station live streams on their devicesNewer owners are more apt to invest time exploring device capabilities with consumers who have purchased a speaker in the last three months using nearly 12 skills per week compared to just seven for users who have had one for more than two yearsamp160 That decline shouldn39t be interpreted as consumer fatigue Webster said but rather that users have homed in on skills they likeamp160 quotYou might think this means the devices are less important to people39s lives but that39s not true at allquot Webster saidamp160 quotThe devices have become more and more ingrained in everyday lifequotEven in such a new industry the speaker landscape is quickly shifting with the latest devices featuring integrated screensamp160like Amazon39s Echo Show or Google Home Hubamp160 While it is early innings smart speaker owners with screened or multimodal devices report that the visuals make it easier to discover new contentamp160 quotWe initially thought of it as a companion to audioquot Sucherman saidamp160 quotIt will open possibilities for video and other video and audio accompanimentsquotNPR is among the publishersamp160creating new content with screens in mind including a Visual Newscast Flash Briefing for Alexa and a visual and audio newscast for Google Assistantamp160 The technology is inspiring NPR to experiment alongside consumers39 sampling and is still a work in progressamp160 quotThey certainly aren39t looking to see video content per sayquot Bryan Moffett COO of National Public Media NPR39s sponsorship subsidiary recently told MediaVillageamp160 quotThey39re looking for something that augments the audio experience and gives them a visual component to itquotMarketing Voice Integration Remains a ChallengeWith or without a screen smart speaker content still needs a marketing boostamp160 Discovery proves to be one of the biggest obstacles for increased consumptionamp160 Radio stations whichamp160are masterful at promotion are getting better at marketing their voice skills onair and onlineamp160 NPR can depend on its network and army of local affiliates Sucherman notedHowever the majority of speaker owners about half still turn to friends and family for suggestionsamp160 Traditional marketing is boosting discovery too with about onethird of owners reporting they learn about new features via Amazon Apple or Google email newsletters and one in five users saying they discover content via brands39 messagesTo grow use of voice activation the secret sauce may be to make smart speakers indispensable to consumers39 everyday livesamp160 In fact brands and media companies can use that necessity as a litmus test for development Sucherman suggestedamp160 quotOne thing that is always a challenge is putting the audience first and figuring out what holes people have in their livesamp160 What jobs can you do for themquot he saidamp160 quotStarting with the audiences39 needs isamp160very importantquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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NPR/Edison Research: With Smart Speaker Market Growth, Privacy and Security Concerns Grow Too

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NPR/Edison Research: With Smart Speaker Market Growth, Privacy and Security Concerns Grow Too

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Alli Romano

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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