Smart Speaker Owners More Connected; Amazon Continues to Lead Global Sales, Say Reports

More than 90 percent of smart speaker and smart display owners have an over-the-top streaming subscription vs. 72 percent of all U.S. broadband households, said Parks Associates Tuesday. The same group is also more connected than the average broadband household, with nearly 40 percent of smart speaker or display users owning 12 or more connected CE devices vs. 22 percent of all households, Parks said. Commenting on the growing importance of voice in technology, Arsham Hatambeiki, Universal Electronics senior vice president-products and technology, said, “Delivering new voice-centric experiences to the large existing installed base of devices in the home, and blending entertainment options across the increasing number of devices, apps, and services, is necessary for improving the monetization opportunities on CE platforms." Meanwhile, Canalys reported last week that Amazon smart speaker shipments crossed the 10 million mark in Q3 to 10.4 million, leading a category that grew 45 percent globally to 28.6 million units. Amazon benefited from strong Prime Day and back-to-school sales. Alibaba regained the top spot in China, placing second globally, while Google slipped from third in Q2 to fourth the following quarter on 3.5 million shipments.