What’s next for smart speakers? Given that sales have flattened in most early-adopter countries (normal, people don’t eat radios), and Google, Amazon are massively scaling back new investment, what now for these devices?
There are things we know: that they essentially take over the duties of traditional tabletop radios (and thus could actually have been a good thing for radio) and prepare audiences for a more connected future. The same functionality is available on both mobiles and in connected cars, although voice control is still very much underused in cars. The assistants that once amazed us now look a bit dumb in the face of ChatGPT.
Are EBU music radio organizations still investing here? What are audiences doing on smart speakers? Is there anything new we should be collectively doing?
This Music and Radio 60-minute session was organized by the EBU's Music and Technology & Innovation teams.
Presentations
Smart speakers — Tomas Granryd (Swedish Radio)
Alexa, ouvre Radio-Canada — Pascale Lacroix (Radio-Canada)
Ben Poor, Senior Project Manager, EBU (moderator)
Joe Blamey, Senior Audience Research Executive, BBC Music
Tomas Granryd, Head of Digital Partnerships, Swedish Radio
Pascale Lacroix, Senior Digital Strategist, Radio-Canada
Anisha Ratan, Audience Research Manager, BBC