At CES 2018 I attended an amazing session, “The Appeal of Smart Speakers: What’s Driving Sales,” moderated by Meg Goldthwaite NPR’s Chief Marketing Officer, with three panelists: Miriam Daniels, Director of Product Management Amazon Echo, Michah Collins Director of Home Hardware Google, and Tom Webster VP Strategy, Edison Research.

Webster presented findings from a national study, “The Smart Audio Report” sponsored by NPR and conducted by Edison Research. All study participants owned an Amazon Echo or Google Home device (which the study generically calls smart speakers).

The study’s data, and the panel’s discussion revealed how individuals and families have begun using smart speakers for much more than fulfilling simple requests and answering simple questions.