Number of smart speakers in US households increases by 78% last year

• The total number of smart-speakers has increased by 78% in the past year: and 21% of people in the US now have one. New data from NPR and Edison Research, from a survey conducted after the Dec 2018 holidays, shows a marked increase in ownership of smart speakers.

  • There is a lot more information in the full report.

• Yesterday, we reported that Amazon have sold 100m “Alexa devices”. By way of comparison, Google Assistant claims “nearly 1bn installs”, and that active users have quadrupled (though they won’t tell how many active users they have).

  
  Aug 9 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Cabana publish 5 podcasting rules you can ignore.

Data and stats

• Patreon tells Podnews that the number of podcast creators on their platform has quadrupled over the past three years, and Patreon has seen an eightfold increase in revenue in the podcasting category.
• 250m Americans still need guests for their podcasts this week, according to The Onion. Satire.

Podcasts

Dr Phil’s podcast Phil in the Blanks launches tomorrow: the first guest is Shaquille O’Neal, and he’s also recorded interviews with Dax Shepard and Jay Leno. (ART19)
ESPN in the UK have launched Head in the Game with Jamie Laing and Alex Lowe. The podcast “will take an entertaining and informative look at an upcoming major sporting event”.

David Siteman Garland, a “million dollar business owner”, is interviewed about his podcast The rise to the top. “Creating a podcast is relatively easy, when you know what to do. Building a profitable laser-focused business? Much harder.” (Libsyn)
Aug 9 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Correction

Yesterday, we wondered whether Slate’s What Next was the first daily news podcast from a major US publisher to be hosted by a woman. We were, of course, wrong, having forgotten about Post Reports. Thanks to those who contacted us including Ryan, Matthew and… Martine Powers, the, er, ah, (cough) host of Post Reports.

Thank you Erica from theNewsWorthy - another daily news podcast (and Erica’s the host, so…) - for becoming a Podnews supporter yesterday.