Smart Speakers: Bedroom, Living Room and … Car?

Our latest free webinar, The NuVoodoo Fall 2019 Contesting and Marketing Guide, finishes up this Tuesday and Wednesday, September 17 & 18. Register now at nuvoodoo.com/webinars to get contesting best practices, the Social Media platforms your station needs, the best contest packaging opportunities, who thinks radio contests are rigged (and what you can do about it) – and more. Key information will take 30 minutes or less and we’ll stay on to answer all your questions.

Last week we showed the continuing climb of Smart Speaker adoption, now at 2 in 3 among likely ratings participants. We showed how audio usage is growing for these devices. Since we started tracking adoption of these devices during the summer of 2017, we’ve been tracking where they’re landing in homes. We know that many end up in the bedroom.

Our latest numbers show that nearly 3 in 5 Smart Speaker owners have one in the bedroom. The living room is now the #2 placement as more people adopt more than one Smart Speaker into their lives. But, it’s the bedroom placement that has us most excited. Given that clock radios are about as common these days as rotary phones, getting a listening device back in the bedroom is big news.

Most people these days default to putting on the bedroom TV as a source for news and companionship while getting ready in the morning. It will take regular reminders from stations and their morning shows to begin changing that habit. The opportunity, however, to train loyal listeners to start their days listening to a radio morning show via Smart Speaker is tremendous.

Listeners will need to be reminded of what they need to say to “Alexa” or “Hey Google” to get the station to play. And with Alexa making her way into the car, the urgency is amplified. As of this writing, you still need to go to Amazon and request an invitation to buy an Echo Auto. The price of entry is about $25. PJ and I both have them. They’re not perfect (and there’s a little bit of a learning curve), but there’s a lot to like.

We’ll again dive deep into all things related to contests and marketing this week for The NuVoodoo Fall 2019 Contesting and Marketing Guide. Register at nuvoodoo.com/webinars.