Smart speakers found in 24% of U.S. homes says new survey

The immediate future could be bright for smart speaker manufacturers following a report from Nielsen revealing that 24% of U.S. homes own a smart speaker (up from 22% in Q1). And 40% of those homes equipped with a smart speaker have multiple units inside. That leaves plenty of potential smart speaker buyers in the U.S., and will probably result in a strong holiday shopping season this year. Because smart speakers can be found priced as low as $25, they make an appropriately priced holiday gift.

Another positive stat for companies like Amazon, Google and Apple to consider, is that 45% of those who already own a smart speaker plan on purchasing additional units. And 62% purchased their speakers within the last six months. While smart speaker sales picked up last year, this could be a category that continues to pick up steam for another few years.

Nielsen surveyed owners to see what they do with their smart speakers, and found that 90% use the device to listen to streamed music. 81% use the personal assistant on the speaker to access real-time information such as traffic and weather, and 75% seek "factual information." 68% use their smart speaker to listen to news, and set alarms and timers. The same percentage of respondents say that they chat with the personal assistant for fun.

According to the survey, the average smart speaker user in the U.S. will employ the device for 65 minutes from Monday through Friday. But usage picks up over the weekend, to 72 minutes on average during a typical Saturday and Sunday. That could be related to the survey's results showing that a leading 53% of users have enabled a streaming music app on their device; that narrowly beats out the 52% who have a shopping app running on their smart speaker.

source: Nielsen via TheVerge