Gone are the days of frustratingly barking your commands at Siri through gritted teeth. Now, when you say “Alexa, tell me the score of the xyz game…” “Alexa, what is...” “Alexa, play…” “Alexa, call…” something incredible happens… your command is actually followed. In comparison to Apple’s arguably hard of hearing assistant, Amazon’s hit product fully understands what you’re saying and provides an accurate response.

With the help of advanced speech recognition, Echo Dot, Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa, and other voice-enabled platforms operate with 95% accuracy or better, and so are better equipped to recognise commands. Unlike Siri, who sadly only occasionally gets it right.

Thanks to the rise in the accuracy of speech recognition on our devices, the dynamic for how people are engaging is changing dramatically, and the figures are only rising. It is speculated that a whopping 30% of searches will be accomplished through voice by 2020. Over the next three years, the number of voice-enabled devices within the home is believed to jump to almost 95 million.

There are no two ways about it; voice is the clear front-runner in the media sector. So how do media companies find a voice in this channel on the right platform and leverage this technology to make money from it? The answer is two-fold.

One is that we can utilise the devices is to use them as another way to distribute content. Using an RSS or XML feed, you can start to capture an audience through the voice channel. Through analytics, you can monitor what is trending and tailor your content.

The second way to take advantage is to transform your own technology by harnessing voice. For example, you can integrate Alexa on your website to add speech capability and streamline the search functionality on your site, making it easier to find content in your database products.

The question most media companies are asking is "which platform should I utilise?" The choice is between using one singular platform or harnessing a multiple platform approach, both of which have their pros and cons. A single-platform approach gives you developmental focus but also minimises your potential audience reach. On the other hand, a multi-platform approach can maximise reach, the complicated task of developing for multiple platforms can massively slow you down. So it will all depend on what is most important to you.

There is absolutely no doubt that voice will be the go-to channel for end users accessing consumer content. Media brands need to get ahead of the curve and have a notable stake in this emerging channel. While there aren't any clear paths for success right now, there is the opportunity to be proactive and pave one.

RSS and XML feeds and smart planning allow media companies to start harnessing voice now so that they can position themselves for substantial long-term growth.

Written by Rob Keenan, 3 January 2018, published on Pubexec.com. Read the full article here.