Voice is a platform, not a device, and will eventually exist everywhere. That perspective enlarges the stakes, and deepens the urgency, for all audio publishers to get up to speed with skills and content. Continue Reading
This week brings two updates from the growing Amazon entertainment and technology ecosystem. First is a new price option for its streaming music service, and second is a development for its Echo product line. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from the web: Updates from YouTube’s Lyor Cohen; the trajectory of home audio; advertising isn’t going away on Spotify. Continue Reading
Beasley Media Group has partnered with SonicAi for the creation of Amazon Echo voice skills for the entire broadcast company. Beasley has 63 radio stations, and the new Alexa voice skills will make those channels easier to access on-demand from Amazon’s smart speaker and will highlight specific station features. Continue Reading
Pandora has added to the smart speaker research hitting the industry this year with the first release of information from a commissioned survey by Edison Research examining how consumers use Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. The survey was conducted with interesting methodology, essentially reinventing the listening diary concept. Continue Reading
Borrell Associates put on a free webinar on Wednesday, hosting presenters Fred Jacobs (Jacobs Media) and Steve Goldstein (Amplifi Media) to talk about smart speakers, and their importance to radio. The program evangelized the platform’s rise as an important opportunity for radio, and offered a takeaway list of tips. Continue Reading
The breakthrough research report on smart speakers, The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, is released today after the free webinar presentation yesterday. The research was originally presented at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit on June 21, of which NPR was the presenting sponsor. Continue Reading
Research firm Morning Consult has released results of a consumer survey which queried over 2,200 adults about how they use virtual assistants. In framing the results of this study, it’s important to understand the scope of “virtual assistant” in this report. Continue Reading