Edison Research: 18 Percent Of Americans Own A Smart Speaker

According to a new study from Edison Research and NPR, 18 percent of Americans, or around 43 million people over the age of 18, now own a smart speaker.

The age group with the largest percentage of ownership includes people 45-54, which make up 24 percent of smart speaker ownership. People ages 55+ made up 22 percent of users, followed by ages 35-44 (21 percent), ages 25-34 (18 percent) and ages 18-24 (15 percent).

Women made up 54 percent of overall smart speaker owners in the study, with men at 46 percent.

First adopters have been defined as those who have owned a smart speaker for a year or more. Early mainstream users have been defined as those who have owned a smart speaker for less than a year. 74 percent of users fell into the early mainstream category, while 26 percent of users were defined as first adopters.

Of early mainstream users, 89 percent reported that they have used their smart speaker to play music in the past week; 90 percent of first adopters reported the same. 47 percent of early mainstream users have used a smart speaker to listen to AM/FM radio in the past week, as had 41 percent of first adopters.

When divided by day part, the study found that overall, users were most likely to listen to AM/FM radio on a smart speaker between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Listening to AM/FM radio via a smart speaker ranked as the second-highest indexed activity for that day part.

Meanwhile, 45 percent of early mainstream users report that time spent listening to AM/FM radio via a smart speaker has replaced time they spent with traditional AM/FM radio; 40 percent of first adopters reported the same.

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Jessica Nicholson

Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.

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