Smart speaker growth has stalled with 41% of Americans owning such a device as of second quarter 2022. From 2017 to 2019, smart speaker ownership soared from just 7% of all Americans to 33%, according to Edison Research’s Share Of Ear survey. The pandemic froze purchases until Christmas 2021 when ownership jumped to 40% in first quarter 2021. But since then, ownership has paused with no post-Christmas “pop” in 2021.
In a drill-down into smart speaker stats from its recently released 2022 Audioscape report, Cumulus Media Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard suggests the stalling growth rates are from limited consumer applications for smart speakers besides playing music and answering simple questions. “It could be consumers don’t really understand…
