Amazon And Google Smart Speakers, And What They Mean For Radio

Radio's New Friend?

AMAZON ECHO and GOOGLE HOME smart speakers are projected to sell more than 24 million combined units through the end of 2017, quadrupling the growth from 2016 and bringing the total number of devices in the marketplace to nearly 35 million by year’s end. In this week’s “I’m Here All Week, Try The Ville” column, ALL ACCESS Country Editor RJ CURTIS looks at how this may impact radio in general, and Country radio specifically.

“Radio has had an at-home listening problem, and it’s only going to get worse,” says JACOBS MEDIA President FRED JACOBS. “So, here come these devices; the gateway for radio in a different form to be accessible back in people’s homes, because this is clearly – at least for the moment – an at-home device.” In APRIL, STEVE GOLDSTEIN's AMPLIFI MEDIA and JACOBS' JACAPPS announced their partnership to develop voice command applications for the radio and podcasting industries, including Skills for the AMAZON ECHO and commands for GOOGLE HOME (NET NEWS 4/18).

These smart speakers already have the attention of programmers, including ENTERCOM Country WBEE/ROCHESTER, NY PD BOB BARNETT. “Radio really needs to start preparing for this technology in terms of listener usage and how it impacts NIELSEN.” And FUTURI MEDIA CEO DANIEL ANSTANDIG, whose company also offers radio “Skills” for the AMAZON ECHO and its virtual administrative assistant, ALEXA, tells ALL ACCESS, “This could be another way to advance the cause in a perfect storm of technology. Based on what I’ve seen, it seems like a tremendous opportunity for Country radio, specifically.” Read the entire piece here.

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