• Search Engine Land
  • Sections
    • SEO
    • SEM
    • Local
    • Retail
    • Google
    • Bing
    • Social
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • Live
  • More
  • Events
  • SUBSCRIBE

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • More
  • Newsletters
  • Home
SEO

Study: Majority reject ads on smart speakers

Just under 40 percent said they were open to ads if they were “relevant.”

Greg Sterling on April 23, 2018 at 9:34 am
  • More
The base of Amazon Echo, a smart speaker home of voice agent Alexa

A new online survey of US adults from NetElixir found that the majority of respondents don’t want ads on virtual assistants or in voice search results. The study is problematic, however, because it fails in most instances to distinguish between experiences on smartphones and smart speaker devices. Despite this, there are some interesting findings.

The survey found that just under two-thirds of users were conducting voice searches on their smartphones (63 percent) compared with smart speakers (35 percent) at home. And just under half (46 percent) were using voice search at least once daily.

Device used for voice or interactions

Source: NetElixir “Search without screens” report (2018)

Among other things, the survey asked about purchase behavior using voice and virtual assistants. Roughly 28 percent said they had used “voice search” to find information related to a purchase. This finding is probably more closely tied to smart speakers than voice on smartphones. If the latter were isolated the numbers would likely be much higher (i.e., people initiating purchase-intent searches using voice).

In terms of what types of purchases people made using voice, the majority cited “entertainment,” with “everyday household items” coming in second. Again, we don’t know what percentage of these purchases were made through smart speakers compared with smartphones.

There are a number of surveys and reports out citing numbers about purchases on smart speakers. For example, last year one report from Walker Sands argued that 19 percent of consumers had made a smart-speaker purchase, with the number growing to 43 percent for millennials.

Categories where purchases made using voice

Source: NetElixir “Search without screens” report (2018)

The inclination to purchase using a virtual assistant is an important topic because the question of how smart speaker content will be monetized is unresolved. Will it be a version of advertising, transactions or both? The answer is, of course, both. Google is experimenting with transactional models as an alternative to conventional ads, in part because of potential consumer resistance to advertising on smart speakers.

Accordingly, the most interesting finding in the NetElixir survey report addresses consumer receptiveness to advertising. The survey asked, “Under which circumstances would you welcome sponsored content or advertised product suggestions while using voice search on your virtual assistants?”

Receptiveness to ads/sponsored content

Source: NetElixir “Search without screens” report (2018)

The positive responses mostly resemble a paid-search model: “When I ask to make a purchase,” “When I am researching products or info” and so on. Overall, 38 percent said they were open to ads if they were “relevant.” That means, by implication, that 62 percent were not receptive to ads — again, it would have been useful to understand the device context.

NetElixir made additional observations about the data, indicating strong resistance to an ad model among many respondents:

However, the raw responses to this question told a somewhat different story. We found 129 raw responses that explicitly rejected ads with voice search. These responses tended to be emotional and uncompromising in nature, such as “No conditions — I’ll stop using voice search first.” and “I’m already paying to use the device; do not want sponsored content on top of it.”

The full study is available here (after registration).


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Amazon MarketingChannel: SEOGoogleGoogle: AndroidGoogle: Google AssistantGoogle: MobileGoogle: Voice Search

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Lorem ipsum doler this is promo text about SMX events.

Available On-Demand: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges. Our next conference will be held:

Next Event: Sept. 14-15, 2021

Available On-Demand: March 2021

Available On-Demand: October 2020

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms
  • Selecting a Customer Data Platform For Your Organization: The 2020 Gartner Market Guide
  • The Complete Guide to Web Core Vitals
  • The New Era of Automation in SEO
  • Nielsen Annual Marketing Report: Era of Adaptation
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Drive Customer Engagement with the Power of Personalization
  • 7 Use Cases That Prove Why You Should Implement DAM
  • Accelerate Your SEO & Content Marketing Program with 4 Key Milestones
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

Attend SMX For Only $199

h
Receive daily search news and analysis.

Channels

  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social

Our Events

  • SMX
  • MarTech

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok