When we use Google to search for a movie to watch or for a product to buy we are presented with a whole bunch of ads. And it seems normal to us. But when we ask Amazon Alexa of Google Home to search the same thing for you, no such ads exist. Yet.

And it’s a great opportunity and a big challenge for advertisers at the same time. Because ads on these devices can’t be such dumb and straightforward as we see across the web. Your personal home assistant knows much more about you than your browser does. So, it must offer much more native and smart ads. And it already can. There is a plenty of use cases: knowing that it’s raining in the morning, perhaps it will offer to call you an Uber; 30 minutes before the Super Bowl starts, it may play an ad for Budweiser; when you ask when a movie is playing, it will not only tell you the time, but also offer a discount from the closest theater on the next showing.

As for me, I think that in future manufacturers of voice-enabled devices such as Amazon and Google will start to offer ad-supported versions of Echo and Home for free. A premium, ad-free version would certainly be possible. It’s pretty similar to the monetization model of big China brand LeEco which sells TVs with 90% discount but gains revenue from included TV services subscriptions and ads.

What do you think about future of voice assistants? I’m always ready to discuss with you in our public chat.

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