42 Percent Of Smart Home Speaker Owners Have More Than One Device, Report Says

With products like the Amazon Echo and the upcoming Apple HomePod, the burgeoning home assistant market has seen a lot of moves recently. In the next year, that market is expected to get even larger.

A recent survey from Edison Research and NPR indicated 42 percent of smart speaker owners have more than one home speaker. The report also includes other encouraging signs for smart speaker manufacturers: 70 percent of owners said they are listening to more audio at home and 65 percent of polled users said they wouldn’t want to go back to not having a speaker in their homes.

Read: Amazon Echo Show Launching June 28

In the survey, parents said they were major fans of the devices. Parents said smart home speakers made it easier to entertain their kids, and 90 percent of those polled said their children were fans of the devices.

Tom Webster, Edison Research vice president of strategy, said the survey reflected the growth of the smart home assistant market in recent years.

“Although smart speakers have not been around for very long, nearly one in five owners say that these devices are the way that they most often listen to audio,” Webster said. “The frictionless way in which these devices enable audio consumption is already changing listening behaviors, and potentially increasing audio consumption overall.”

For home users and manufacturers, there are several key takeaways from the report that are worth noting. Among consumers, the home assistant market has seen clear signs of growth as consumers are finding reasons to jump on board with the new platform.

VoiceBot previously calculated Amazon users generally stuck with only one Echo device per household. If more consumers are willing to buy multiple speakers to extend coverage throughout their homes, it’s a safe bet they find the devices useful on a daily basis.

On Amazon’s end specifically, its aggressive product strategy for the Echo likely plays a role here. While its flagship product in the family is the standard $179 Echo, Amazon also has the budget-priced $49 Echo Dot. In addition, the company also has the upcoming touchscreen-based Echo Show and fashion-centric Echo Look to further develop the product family.

Read: Amazon Echo Vs. Apple HomePod: Which Device Do Consumers Want?

In the coming year, the voice home assistant market is expected to see additional competition. An industry report from firm VoiceLabs said companies could ship around 24.5 million voice home assistant devices this year.

As for products, Apple will release the HomePod later this year. During its release, Apple touted the speaker’s audio specifications and the HomePod will also include Siri integration for HomeKit and general voice-based assistance. In addition, Google has its own home assistant speaker and Microsoft is also partnering up with various manufacturers to launch home speakers powered by its Cortana home assistant.