Smart Speakers In Nearly 20 Percent Of U.S. Homes

With smart speakers growing in popularity, Voicebot, the voice bot technology company, has found that 19.7 percent of adults in the U.S. have access to a smart speaker, up from under 1 percent a mere two years ago.

According to the Voicebot Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report, Voicebot found that among smart speaker users, men are more prevalent than women, with a 58 to 42 percent ratio. What’s more, Voicebot said the 19.7 percent translated into 47.3 million U.S. adults who have access to a smart speaker, either by owning one outright or living in a home equipped with one.

“Most mobile devices have a single user, whereas smart speakers are communal devices used by entire households,” wrote Voicebot in the report, noting that it only took three years for smart speakers to hit close to nearly 50 million users. By way of comparison, it took 13 years for televisions, four years for the internet and two years for Facebook. While smart speakers are actual hardware devices, they are growing at a rate that is almost as quick as the adoption of a social media app.

What’s more, Voicebot found that users of smart speakers don’t typically purchase just one. On average, there are 1.8 devices in each household. According to the research, around two-thirds of households have one device and 85 percent have no more than two devices. Fifteen percent of households have three or more devices, while just 2 percent say they have five to 10 in the home and 1.7 percent have more than 10.

“The implication for device manufacturers is that the market is nowhere near saturation. Eighty percent of the population are still prospects for their first smart speaker, and 85 percent of current smart speaker owners are prospects for additional devices for their home,” wrote Voicebot. “There is widespread speculation that smart speaker sales will peak in just a couple of years due to saturation. It appears the market has much more growth ahead of it.”