Voice search is lagging behind in terms of availability, but popular with those who have adopted it.
The resurgent technology, which made its first appearance in the 1990s, is back on the agenda for high end smart TVs and pay-TV operators.
Digitalsmiths and TiVo’s latest Online Video and Pay-TV Trends report finds voice search to be the smallest of the three emerging search categories. Just 9.8% of respondents say they have the ability to talk into their device and use it to search for content. It represents a slightly quarterly increase and a 5.4% increase year-on-year.
Of those who have such a capability, 76.7% use it on a weekly basis. The largest group (35.0%) conducts one to three searches per week, and the second-largest group (20.1%) conducts four to seven searches per week. Such numbers suggest that delving deep into available content is not a regular occurrence.
Social media is a significant and growing area for content discovery. 24% of respondents post about what they’re watching on social media,up 1.8% year-on-year. Additionally, 38.4% of respondents choose to watch a show based on social buzz, an increase of 4.2%year-on-year.
Sports fans aren’t always as successful in looking for content. In TiVo’s third quarter survey 34.0% of respondents have trouble “always” or “sometimes” when trying to find something to watch on TV. Frustration with finding sports content continues to increase, with slight growth q/q, 2.0% y/y and 3.2% over two years.
TiVo points to dedicated channels from the sports rights holders themselves, such as the National Hockey League, that may actually be hampering discovery.
