The emergence of voice assistants has led to both excitement and frustration among brands and media organizations. A recent survey of 500 marketers revealed that 69% […]
LONDON, May 8, 2018 - LOVE SPORT, the broadcaster that took club podcasters to radio, today announced a collaboration with XAPPmedia to make 10 shows available to fans through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant and the respective Echo and Google Home smart speakers. It is the first known portfolio of podcasts to be made simultaneously available on both Alexa and Google Assistant in the UK.
This week, XAPP hosted a webinar on the topic of how radio can succeed on Alexa. Inside Radio listened in and highlighted a few key points from the 30-minute session in a recent article this week. One of the main takeaways was that while voice assistants and smart speakers have brought radio back into the home, they will also be coming to the automobile faster than you think.
Amazon’s Alexa is being adopted by car makers ranging from Ford and Toyota to BMW. Ford says 20 million cars will have Alexa access in 2018 and that is a good start. Those announcements show a trend, but new testing by Amazon may accelerate Alexa availability by introducing an Echo Dot model for cars.
Westwood One, the largest radio network in the U.S., and the official network radio partner of the NCAA, has worked with Amazon and development partner XAPPmedia to offer Alexa and Westwood One consumers effortless access to Westwood One Sports’ exclusive live audio coverage and post-game recaps of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
There is a new report by OC&C that reveals voice commerce reached nearly $2 billion in the U.S. in 2017. More surprising to some is that it is projected to reach $40 billion in the next five years. That is an 86% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). And, it's not just a U.S. phenomenon. In the U.K. voice shopping is expected to climb from just $200 million to $5 billion in that same period.
Many podcasters are surprised when their podcast shows up on Alexa, usually through a TuneIn integration. This is great until someone actually tries to listen - it is a totally broken user experience. That is what we set out to address with Voice Cast for Podcasters.
