Smart speakers are in more and more homes every month with almost double the amount of Smart Speakers in US homes at the end of 2018 compared to the end of 2017.

NPR and Edison Research have released their ‘Smart Audio Report’ looking back at the Smart Speaker industry in 2018. It’s easy to tell from the ever-growing number of companies revealing their entry into the Smart Speaker market that they are on a massive trend and 2018 saw more people than ever picking up an internet-activated, artificial intelligence powered speaker to place in their homes.

As of December 2018 21% of over 18s in the US own a Smart Speaker, which is around 53 million people. According to the study there were 14 million new Smart Speaker owners in 2018 but even that doesn’t account entirely for the incredible 78% increase in Smart Speakers now sitting in homes in the US thanks to the number of people owning multiple speakers also growing rapidly.

Last December 62% of Smart Speaker owners only owned one whilst 21% owned two speakers and 17% owned three or more. Last month the number of Smart Speaker owners with only one in their home accounted for just 48% of smart speaker owners. 22% of owners now claim to own two whilst a whopping 30% of those with a speaker in their home own three or more.

During the holiday season in 2018 almost 1/10th of the entire US got a Smart Speaker. 8% of the US bought or received a Smart Speaker between Black Friday and the end of December 2018.

See the NPR and Edison Research report and how ridiculously popular Smart Speakers are becoming here.