The survey asked about the presence of advertisements on smart speakers. One in four owners said they had heard an ad on their device. Within that cohort, 20% said they heard an ad during a music stream or a podcast, while 11% said it was while searching online and 9% said it was while checking the news. The attitude toward ads on smart speakers was generally more positive among smart speaker owners, with 43% of them finding ads less intrusive in that format. The sentiment was not universal, with 26% disagreeing that smart speaker ads were less intrusive. Forty-two percent of respondents found podcast ads more engaging, and 25% disagreed.
Adobe also found that shopping via voice assistant had the potential to grow. So far, 20% of smart speaker owners have shopped by voice, and 61% said they would consider voice commands to make lightweight recurring household purchases. “Convenience is top priority for today’s customers, and voice-activated shopping makes conducting research and making purchases that much more efficient and hands-free,” Adobe Analytics Director Colin Morris said. “Rather than having to click through on a computer or mobile device, they can simply engage in a conversation to initiate the purchase or recurring purchase.”
Finally, the survey showed that smart speaker owners are entertained by the idea of getting a celebrity voice on their smart speaker. A third of the respondents wanted the option for a guest voice. Most fans want to hear Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s baritone; he pulled 47% of the vote.