The State of Advertising on Smart Speakers
On Christmas morning, we expect many people will be waking up to find smart speakers under their trees. (Or an entire tree of smart speakers, see ours below.) We know this because Amazon sold Alexa-enabled devices galore — read: millions — over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We can safely assume that Google sold a lot of devices powered by Google Assistant as well since devices were reduced by $20-$50.
With this flood of smart speakers into the market, wise brands and publishers are now wondering how they can reach these consumers on these devices to sell more products, drive Voice app adoption, and boost brand awareness. With these questions in mind, we put together this handy guide to help you understand the state of advertising on these devices.
Advertising Examples from 2017
First, let’s give some context to what’s already happened in Voice advertising this year. There were a few big milestones that demonstrate how this space still feels like the Wild Wild West.
- March — Beauty & The Beast showed up unexpectedly in Google Home’s daily briefing.
- April — A Burger King Ad triggered Google Home to read a description of the Whopper from Wikipedia.
- May — VoiceLabs, a company specializing in Voice analytics, launched a monetization program for third-party developers.
- June — VoiceLabs “hibernates” monetization program after Amazon makes changes to its advertising policy.
- November — Oprah’s ‘Favorite Things’ appeared on Alexa with the new ability to purchase products inside the skill. This falls outside the scope of advertising, but it’s still interesting for this discussion.
These stops and starts, ups and downs, prove that both Google and Amazon are cautious about how they roll out advertising on the platform. Down the road we’re sure that they’ll leverage their existing monetization capabilities (advertising and eCommerce, respectively) to generate revenue, but for now there are many unknowns. What is clear is that both want to ensure a great customer experience above all else in this nascent market.
So what does all this mean for publishers and brands?
Well, the good news is that monetization options are on the way via subscriptions and product sales (thanks Oprah!). Here’s what is possible on each platform currently with hints about what the future holds…
Advertising on Amazon Alexa
Amazon’s current advertising policy focuses on ensuring streaming music and radio services, along with Voice updates, can deliver ads so long as they aren’t read by Alexa. The policy paves the way for ad-supported music services like Pandora and Spotify to appear on the platform, while also ensuring that Alexa’s dulcet tones don’t get co-opted to sell you that new Instant Pot you’ve been secretly lusting after.
For brands and publishers, the Voice update (check out our post on the difference between updates and apps) is the real doorway here. It can help you build a loyal base of listeners to deliver advertising and sponsorship messages too…provided you’re using a human-voice, like a SpokenEdition does. It’s the best way for you to get into the ecosystem and start building a habitual relationship with your customer.
The update is the newsletter of the Voice world — a bundled collection of audio delivered throughout the day when consumers say something like, “Alexa read me the news.” Contrast that with an app where a consumer gets more functionality than an update, but must ask for an app specifically like “Alexa, open Wired Magazine.”
Amazon allows for promotion of products inside a Voice app (called a skill on Alexa), but the products have to be related to that app. So if you’re a CPG-brand, you can promote your line of products in an app or an update, but if you’re a publisher looking to provide sponsored content, you can only do that within an update. Hearst’s My Beauty Chat is a good example of an update that wouldn’t work as an app because it promotes L’Oréal brands that Hearst doesn’t own.
For a full list of Amazon’s advertising policies, click here.
tl;dr:
Yes to ads in Voice updates (aka Flash Briefings on Alexa).
No to ads in Voice Apps with the exception of streaming music, radio, and podcasts.
Advertising on Google Home
On the Google front, there’s little information about advertising on Google Assistant. Google’s focused on creating a great customer experience and making the Google Assistant as useful as possible. Here’s how we think that shakes out for advertising on the platform.
Only certain publishers have access to updates (or Narrated News as Google calls it) on the platform. This includes SpokenEditions from top publishers like Time, Gizmodo, Wired, Slate, and Politico along with news shows from NPR, BBC, and the New York Times. This is a highly curated list that Google controls so if you’re a prominent national publisher, you’re in luck — we can help you navigate getting your content into the Narrated News section of Google. If you’re a brand, your best bet is to advertise against the content that’s already inside of Narrated News. Email us and we’re happy to talk to you about our inventory.
Currently advertising isn’t allowed inside of Voice apps (or Conversational Actions as Google calls them). That makes sense since they’re working to build trust with users and iterating to create a great experience. If advertising ever does come to the platform, we expect their advertising policy to mimic the AdWords policy with changes tweaked for Voice.
Read the full AdWords Advertisement policy here.
tl;dr:
Yes to ads in Voice updates (aka Narrated News in Google Assistant) however they’re curated by Google and not open to all like on Alexa.
No advertising in Voice Apps. We assume this will change over time, but Google’s not said anything
Conclusion
If you’re a brand or publisher figuring out what makes sense for you, remember, Voice is still a brand new space so it’s going to take iteration. The only way to understand what your consumers expect from your Voice app or update is to have one in the first place. Plus, you want to nab the keyword(s) associated with your company or product immediately, more on that here.
Here are a few simple ways to begin advertising now…
Brands:
- A Voice app that educates the user about what your company does
- A daily Voice update with a tip or idea pertaining to your industry
- An advertisement that runs against a publisher’s Voice updates
Publishers:
- Work with brands to run their advertisements before and/or after a Voice update with your content
- Advertise your publication against content with a similar listener demographic
It’s still early days in the world of Voice. Both Google and Amazon are proceeding slowly out of respect for their consumer, which is imperative in order to build consumer trust. Both platforms will ramp up their monetization options in 2018, so if you want to start experimenting with these audiences — now’s the time! E-mail us to schedule an info session on the space and how we can help you build out your Voice strategy.
