Voice assistants: new opportunities for advertisers

Voice control has undeniably taken off, and is a market that is set to explode in the next few years.  This alternative to the radio is a real boon for advertisers.

With FM radios becoming increasingly scarce in Western homes, connected speakers now offer new opportunities for smart interactive communication for brands, with the added benefit of contextualisation.

With the connected speaker, digital radio and audio are finding a place in the home and, increasingly, in the car. And with good reason – in a world saturated by advertising, brands are now looking for new ways to reach their targets, in a more intimate and impactful way. Connected speakers are the perfect answer to this challenge, as voice-activated advertisements can be adapted to the contextual data collected.

France: How BMW imposed its assistant… on other assistants!

When it launched the new BMW 3 Series, equipped with a personal assistant, the German brand decided to launch a communication campaign using voice assistants. This meant that, every time a user asked Google Assistant or Alexa for news, a pre-roll advertising message was broadcast. The message was perfectly adapted: “You asked your assistant for the latest news, but now you can also ask your new BMW 3 Series.”

Meteoric rise in Germany in 2019

Edison Research’s first major Infinite Dial study has been published in Germany. It highlights how far the European country is lagging behind the United States (estimated at 4 years). For 70% of Germans, radio remains the primary source of information, music and entertainment. However, things are progressing rapidly, especially among 16-34 year olds, who favour mobile applications, aggregators and connected speakers. 38% of this age group no longer own a radio. 35% listen to podcasts. Today, 8% of Germans already own a connected loudspeaker.