Advanced Television

Research: Smart speakers increasingly linked to smart TVs

July 16, 2020

Findings from Hub Entertainment Research’s annual study – Evolution of the TV Set – reveal more viewers are using smart TVs linked to smart speakers to fill gaps in TV set capabilities.

Highlights from the research:

  1. Amazon Echo still leads all speaker brands when it comes to integration with smart TVs – but the gap is shrinking. The share of smart TV homes with a linked smart speaker has grown significantly in the past year, from 19 per cent to 25 per cent.
  • While the share of these linked smart speakers/smart TVs attributed to Echo decreased from 2019 to 2020 (from 48 per cent to 36 per cent) increases are seen for Google Nest/Home (30 per cent to 32 per cent), Apple’s HomePod (22 per cent to 28 per cent), Facebook’s Portal (13 per cent to 25 per cent), and Sonos (6 per cent to 9 per cent)
  1. Viewers who use a smart speaker to control a smart TV set are quite happy with the experience (85 per cent) are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied); those who use an Amazon Echo show a directionally higher level of being “very satisfied” with the experience (59 per cent) compared with those who use a Google Nest/Home (48 per cent)
  2. This satisfaction has led to a directional increase in how often smart speakers are used to control a smart TV. In 2020, among those with a linked smart speaker and smart TV, 66 percent say they are using a smart speaker to control a smart TV “all the time” or “often” – this compares with 63 per cent in 2019.
  3. Linked smart speakers are used most often for standard remote control functions like changing volume or channels. Among those who use a smart speaker to control a smart TV, the most common activity is to change channels, adjust volume, or pausing play (100 per cent). Less common is discovery, such as finding a movie (36 per cent) or TV programme (33 per cent) to watch on TV.

“Consumers are doubling down on ‘smart’ by linking their smart TVs and smart speakers,” said David Tice, senior consultant to Hub and co-author of the study. “This hybrid set-up allows their TV sets to evolve beyond the sometimes limited voice control or content search-and-discovery options offered by OEM systems to the more powerful options offered by Amazon or Google.”

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