Integr8 Research has released its third of five blogs from a new study called “The Alexa Effect: How Radio Can Thrive in a Connected World.” In this latest piece, entitled “Are Smart Speakers Really Replacing Radios?” the research company says by next year there will be more smart speakers in the home than radios for some listening demos.
Integr8 says that smart speaker ownership grew from 14% in 2017 to 24% in 2018, while AM/FM radio ownership fell from 48% to 41% during the same period. Company President Matt Bailey says, “It is foreseeable that sometime in 2020, more 15- to 39-year-old listeners will have a smart speaker in their home than will own an AM/FM radio.”
The Integr8 research also discovered that listeners who don’t own radios also don’t own smart speakers. “If smart speakers are our plan for replacing clock radios, listeners who don’t own radios beyond their cars are actually less likely to own all kinds of smart devices compared to people who still do own radios at home.”
The research tracked the consumption habits of 6,240 15- to 39-year-old contemporary music listeners.
Check out the entire blog HERE.
This is a hardware issue. None of the companies that own AM/FM radio stations manufacture those radios. The radio industry depends on electronics manufacturers to build and market those devices. If those devices are becoming less popular, then radio just needs to move its content to more popular devices.
Watch this “research” prove to be drawing a false conclusion. As it becomes more and more apparent that these smart speakers are actually doubling as listening devices so that creepy marketeers can send you product info that you didn’t ask for they will diminish. As radio owners we have made a thriving business without relying on home use. This is a big nothing Burger!
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