The Westwood One 2021 Audioscape: A Focus On Smart Speaker Ownership, Listening Trends, And Device Adoption
The Westwood One 2021 Audioscape covers two major innovations in the audio space: podcasts and smart speakers. The data is sourced from Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” study, CUMULUS MEDIA’s annual Podcast Download release, and Nielsen’s Scarborough USA+ studies.
Here is a closer look at the world of smart speakers:
40% of Americans own a smart speaker
According to Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” study, smart speaker ownership has increased over five times since 2017 to 40%. If the pandemic slowed adoption during the first half of 2020, since then, smart speaker ownership growth has resumed.
Amazon Alexa devices dominate smart speaker ownership
Among smart speaker owners, 80% have an Amazon Alexa device and 34% have a Google Home. Two-thirds of smart speaker owners only have an Alexa device, 20% only have a Google Home device, and 14% have both devices.
Smart speaker ownership over-indexes in the top 50 markets
According to Nielsen’s Scarborough USA+, consumers in the top ten markets are 12% more likely to own smart speakers. Those in DMAs ranked 11-50 are 6% more likely to own smart speakers. While a quarter of smart speaker owners are in the 51+ DMAs, consumers in these markets are 19% less likely to own a smart speaker.
Americans residing in tech hubs and a mix of major and medium markets are most likely to own smart speakers
Tech hubs and mid-size markets like Salt Lake City, Seattle, Austin, and San Diego have risen to the top for smart speaker ownership.
Nielsen Scarborough: Smart Speaker owners are upscale, educated, and employed
The vast majority of smart speaker listening occurs at home, even more so since the pandemic
Middays are prime time for smart speaker time spent with the remaining time equally allocated to mornings, afternoons, and nights
Given Amazon Alexa’s smart speaker device leadership, it is not surprising that Amazon Music leads all other audio platforms for total smart speaker time spent
AM/FM radio has the largest share of ad-supported audio on smart speakers
Nearly 40% of all ad-supported audio time spent on smart speakers goes to AM/FM radio. 18% of ad-supported time spent goes to podcasts.
Smart speakers have brought radios back into the home and account for an increasing proportion of time spent with AM/FM radio streaming
Over the last four years, the share of audio streaming from smart speakers has increased significantly. Since 2018, the share of streaming time spent to CUMULUS MEDIA stations on a smart speaker has tripled from 11% to 29%.
The Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association smart speaker case study
The Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association piloted a campaign on the smart speaker, a new AM/FM radio platform. When consumers asked their smart speakers to play one of the Cumulus Detroit radio stations, a 15-second pre-roll ad ran before the online audio stream of the AM/FM radio station launched.
To measure the impact of the Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association smart speaker campaign, CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One retained MARU/Matchbox to conduct a campaign effect study. 385 Cumulus Detroit listeners were surveyed in November 2020.
Some listened to the AM/FM radio stations via smart speaker and had the opportunity to be exposed to the campaign. The remaining segment listened to the stations but did not have a smart speaker and were not exposed to the campaign. The difference in brand equity between the exposed and unexposed groups represents the lift from the smart speaker campaign.
Consumers exposed to the Cumulus smart speaker pre-roll ads were more likely to be aware of the Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association
Consumers were asked for their familiarity with the Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association. Smart speaker listeners to Cumulus stations were +24% more likely to say they were “extremely familiar or very familiar” with the Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association, 42% exposed versus 34% unexposed.
Likelihood of visiting a Ford dealer in the next 3 months was +63% greater among those exposed to the smart speaker pre-roll ads
31% of those exposed to the Cumulus smart speaker pre-roll ads for the Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association said they were very likely to visit a Ford dealer in the next 3 months. 19% of those not exposed said they would visit a Ford dealer. The smart speaker campaign generated a +63% greater likelihood to visit a Ford dealer.
Key takeaways:
- 40% of Americans own a smart speaker
- Amazon Alexa devices dominate smart speaker ownership
- Smart speaker ownership over-indexes in the top 50 markets
- Americans residing in tech hubs and a mix of major and medium markets are most likely to own smart speakers
- The vast majority of smart speaker listening occurs at home, even more so since the pandemic
- Middays are prime time for smart speaker time spent with the remaining time equally allocated to mornings, afternoons, and nights
- Given Amazon Alexa’s smart speaker device leadership, it is not surprising that Amazon Music leads all other audio platforms for total smart speaker time spent
- AM/FM radio has the largest share of ad-supported audio on smart speakers
- Smart speakers have brought radios back into the home and account for an increasing proportion of time spent with AM/FM radio streaming
- Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association case study: Consumers exposed to the Cumulus smart speaker pre-roll ads were more likely to be aware of the Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association
- Southeast Michigan Ford Dealers Association case study: Likelihood of visiting a Ford dealer in the next 3 months was +63% greater among those exposed to the smart speaker pre-roll ads
Brittany Faison is the Insights Manager of the CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One Audio Active Group.
Contact the CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One Audio Active Group at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.