Wireless Multiroom Audio Speaker Market Up 30 Percent in 2015 but Short of Expectations, Report Says

Global sales of wireless multiroom audio speakers grew 30 percent in 2015 but fell short of industry expectations, Futuresource said Thursday. Wireless multiroom speakers also shrank as a share of total wireless speakers, to 8 percent of units, it said. Futuresource blamed lower-than-expected sales on market fragmentation from new entrants such as DTS’ Play-Fi and Frontier Silicon’s Undok platforms. Single-brand platforms are more than 95 percent of the multiroom audio segment, Futuresource said. A third of consumers who plan to buy wireless speakers want to be able to play music simultaneously in multiple rooms, the researcher said. But that’s not translating to sales due to lack of retail demonstrations and “inadequate communication” from manufacturers, leaving consumers “struggling to understand these products,” Futuresource said. “Consumers are really confused about the technology,” analyst Rasika Iyer said. More than half of U.S. wireless speaker shoppers canvassed by Futuresource believe Bluetooth is an ideal technology for streaming music from one room to another, not realizing that’s Wi-Fi’s strength, she said. A relative few multiroom audio announcements at CES were “indicative of this market slowdown,” Iyer said, saying Google Cast “stirred some interest” in Wi-Fi audio with partnership announcements with Raumfeld, Bang & Olufsen and Frontier Silicon. Futuresource predicts a market shakeout that will lead to growth long term. Future prospects for the category are “positive, as long as the industry can standardize product offerings and better communicate the technology and how that translates to an enhanced consumer experience,” she said.