Collins | Are You Ready For Voice-Activated TV?

Mary Collins

In the early part of the 2000s, when I was working for a video-on-demand technology company, we thought that voice response would be the so-called “killer app.” With so many program choices, and on-screen guides that were anything but consumer-friendly, having a potential viewer simply ask for content seemed the best way forward. Early trials were promising, but they never got the necessary traction.

More recently, some cable company packages include remotes with a voice option. Hold the appropriate key, request a program, and presto, you get some onscreen choices. It’s awkward, but still far easier than using the manual guide navigation.

The newest television sets also offer remotes with various degrees of voice recognition capabilities. Samsung has something called Bixby. LG TV owners can purchase a special remote with a program called ThinQ. And, Sony has begun integrating Google Assistant.

What’s important is the technology is now getting consumer attention. Smart speakers are one of this year’s hot consumer electronics items. Almost 50 million U.S. households are already using devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. Additionally, a survey conducted by Abode suggests that, by the end of this holiday season, 50% percent of all U.S. consumers will own a smart speaker.

Consumer adoption of voice-activated TV remotes has also been climbing. “Voice has been important to us for a couple of years now, particularly when you have a lot of content,” Brian Moller, VP of engineering at Roku, recently told a conference audience. ”When you have 5,500 channels or apps that you can consume content from, browsing the apps on a remote is going to take a while. We intend to expand that functionality to be better at recommending and helping people find the right content.”

Roku’s experience validates the growing importance of voice-activated devices for TV stations. As Pat Higbie, CEO and co-founder XAPPmedia, observes: “Many people mistakenly think that voice assistants are just used for audio-only content. But they’re being used to call up live streaming and recorded video content as well as audio.”

Higbie, whose company helps media companies launch voice apps on Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, wrote an article about the implications of the voice-activated media consumption for a special report on “The Future of Media” appearing in the current issue of MFM’s member magazine, The Financial Manager (TFM). As he reminds our readers, “When you launch a voice app for Alexa or Google Assistant, you get access to smart speakers, smartphones, hundreds of appliances and entertainment systems in cars.”

Convenience has been the biggest driver for the voice-activated devices. “Voice assistant technology makes it easier to request radio or video transmissions,” Higbie said. “It also will enable the opportunity for bi-directional interaction for media that have historically been relegated to one-way broadcast.”

A Fast Adoption Curve

Voice activation’s significance is reflected in the rapid adoption rate for the technology. As Higbie notes in his article, that 50% consumer adoption prediction for the end of this year, will have occurred in just five years. That’s an even faster rate than the seven years required for smartphones to reach the same milestone. What’s important for television is that Higbie predicts that, in the next two years, voice assistants will move from their current role, one in which they simply provide streamed audio, to one that includes providing video access.

This popularity will extend to the car and mobile devices. Higbie’s article cites a study from Edison Research that shows 53% of consumers say that use of voice on smart speakers is driving more use of voice assistants on mobile devices. With many consumers complaining about the narrow capabilities of voice interfaces offered by automakers, Higbie expects the use of voice assistants such as Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, Google Assistant and Siri will lead to more in-car usage.

“The bottom line is that consumers like voice control,” stresses Higbie. “They want to use it for accessing smart home devices, to determine their commute time, find out the weather forecast and access audio and visual media.”

Following Radio’s Lead

With accessing music ranking as the second most-tried feature of smart speakers and the most frequently used feature on a monthly and daily basis, radio stations have been frontrunners in responding to voice-activated promotional opportunities. Higbie points out that 44.5% of smart speaker owners have listened to a radio station in the past week through the devices, while 89.3% have listened to music and 56.2% have asked for news in that time frame.

“Only smartphones and tablets were more popular among respondents that started using smart speakers more recently,” he adds. “And, 68% of those surveyed said they are listening to more audio content since acquiring a smart speaker.”

Additional market data cited by Higbie reveal that live streaming from Cumulus and NPR has increased substantially as a result of voice-activated devices like Amazon’s Alexa. It’s also important to note that radio consumption through smart speakers is largely incremental time spent listening (TSL).

“Radio is simply the vanguard of transformation that will touch upon every corner of the media industry,” Higbie believes. “Video, text and imagery already exist alongside audio content in the emerging voice channel. Voice assistants in general and smart speakers in particular have established new content distribution channels with broad reach, seemingly overnight.”

Getting Started

A quick internet search shows that Google Home and Amazon Alexa are already focusing on voice control for TV. One page for Google Home includes a chart listing partners, supported content and directions for linking a number of networking and streaming services such as Netflix and CBS All Access. Using Alexa requires the user to set up the device or service, but it can be done fairly easily.

Higbie’s article outlines five tactics to consider when planning a voice-activation strategy. Among the items included are promotion; following up to determine how the audience is interacting with the app; and some monetization tactics.

As he concludes his article: “Voice assistants in general and smart speakers in particular have established new content distribution channels with broad reach, seemingly overnight.” Clearly, future success for all media companies includes a strategy for voice-activated digital assistants.

The Future Of Media Is Human

If you would like to learn more about the insights Pat Higbie shared with our members, including his five recommended tactics for a successful voice activation strategy, a copy of the November-December issue of TFM can be accessed from the MFM website. As with Higbie’s piece, the other articles contained in MFM’s special report on “The Future of Media,” focus on technologies that are changing the face of media consumption in the U.S.

That said, the future of media is human. As we have seen with previous technological advances, the meteoric rise in voice-activated devices correlates directly with how well the application addresses consumer needs. People drive the technology. And people must plan — and implement — a company’s voice strategies.

When it comes to analyzing the revenue and cost considerations of monetizing innovations like smart speakers and TV remotes, no group of people are more focused than the media industry’s financial management professionals. It’s one of the reasons MFM has teamed up with Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), the trade association representing digital entertainment, particularly from movie studios, to offer the first Entertainment Finance Conference, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles.

Additional upcoming programs from MFM and BCCA, the media industry’s credit association, include a webinar on Thursday, Jan. 17 (1-2 p.m. ET), moderated by Gordon Borrell, president of Borrell Associates, who will discuss his firm’s “2019 Forecast: Where Local Advertising Is Headed.” Also on the upcoming educational events calendar are the 2019 MFM CFO Summit, being held in Fort Lauderdale March 7-8, 2019, and Media Finance Focus 2019, MFM/BCCA’s annual conference, May 20-22, 2019, in New Orleans.

As we close out 2018, and anticipate the challenges and opportunities that 2019 will undoubtedly present, the MFM/BCCA team and I want to wish you, your colleagues, and families a safe and merry holiday season and Happy New Year.

Our resolution continues to be one of finding ways to make media finance employees more knowledgeable and valuable today while developing the next generation of global media leaders. Please, let us know if there are ways we can help to make next year a prosperous and rewarding one for you and your company.

Mary M. Collins is president and CEO of the Media Financial Management Association and its BCCA subsidiary, the media industry’s credit association. She can be reached at [email protected] and via the association’s LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook sites.