Voice is huge and rising fast. Almost 4.2 billion voice-activated assistants were used in devices around the world last year. The global voice assistant market is expected to reach a market value of USD 7.3 million by 2025 and by 2023 an estimate of 8 billion voice-enabled assistants will be in use.
The growing popularity of smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home gives businesses the opportunity to use interactive audio content to connect with their communities and audiences in an entirely new, and more engaging way.
Interactivity gives a new perspective on advertising: these ads speak directly to listeners and invite them to respond. From interruption to invitation. The ads can offer helpful information, a recipe, a promo code, exclusive content or to set a reminder, while allowing the user to decline. Good voice ads can become an experience: think of a voice led destination discovery tour or a conversation about the features of a car, similar to a showroom setting.
Achieving higher engagement rates is what all brands are after, but only a few add voice experiences to their customer journey today. Why? Because there is little knowledge and expertise around designing, producing, and distributing voice experiences.
This is where our portfolio startup Cashew comes in. Cashew is a unique voice curation platform that gives brands everything they need to build, deploy, measure, and manage voice experiences customers love.
The Cashew team already worked with noteworthy brands like Sony, Disney, Ikea, and Tripadvisor. For Sony they created an interactive ad that realised a smashing engagement rate of 28%. Overall, Cashew’s voice ads outperform digital ads 3:1. That’s why we are convinced that more brands will soon discover this new channel and that Cashew will continue its growth at a fast pace.