US Smart Speaker Installed Base Reaches 76 Million According to CIRP with 52% One-Year Growth
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) announced yesterday that a recent survey indicated that the installed base of U.S. smart speaker ownership rose to 76 million in the second quarter of 2019. This follows earlier reporting that CIRP found the installed base was 70 million smart speaker owners as of March 2019 and a determination by both CIRP and Voicebot’s of 66 million at the end of 2018. The recent 76 million figure reflects 52% growth over CIRPs estimate of 50 million smart speaker owners as of June 2018.
CIRP’s quarterly tracking shows steady growth with a more significant jump in the fourth quarter of last year which is consistent with previous trends. “While the biggest growth in the market for smart speakers is in the holiday fourth quarter, Amazon Echo and Google Home continues to grow their installed bases in the past couple of quarters,” said Josh Lowitz, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP, in a prepared statement. “The market grew by 9% in the second quarter, and more than 50% year over year. Continued aggressive pricing of the entry-level models seems to continue to encourage new customers to try a smart speaker and existing owners to consider adding more devices to their home.”
Amazon Echo Maintains Large Lead in U.S.
CIRP’s analysis also shows Amazon Echo with 70% installed base market share compared to just 25% for Google Home and 5% for Apple HomePod. Lowitz commented that it appears the three leading smart speaker makers are doing enough to maintain their market share quarter-to-quarter but are not outpacing their competitors as the market grows. It is worth noting that CIRP does not track ownership of smart speakers made by manufacturers other than Amazon, Google, and Apple. Voicebot’s analysis suggests this segment represents over 10% of the installed base and that adjusts the market share of the three larger incumbents downward. What is not in doubt is that Amazon Echo has a commanding market share lead that is more than twice as large as Google and Apple combined.
CIRP also found that over half of Amazon Echo and Google Home owners had the lower-priced Dot and Mini models respectively. The data was gathered from 500 smart speaker owners in early July 2019 reflecting device ownership as of June 30, 2019. You can see the full release here.
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