Smart speakers have been been reluctant to bombard users with ads, but that could be about to change

• Audio content is becoming increasingly popular, and advertisers are looking to reach audiences on listening-only media platforms.
• But Amazon and Google restrict ads on their smart speakers lest customers find unprompted sponsored content intrusive.
• Amazon once was in talks to open Alexa up to ad opportunities, CNBC reported, but the company denied that option was on the table.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google, Facebook and other internet companies reap tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year by putting ads on the screens of computers and smartphones.

But what happens in a world without screens?

As consumers turn to voice-based devices like smart speakers to get the morning news, look up the score of last night's ball game and send messages, visual ads seem to be in a prime position to get squeezed out. That means the online giants who rely on advertising sales, like Google, Facebook and Amazon, as well as the marketers who use the internet to reach new customers, need to figure out how to adapt to the voice age.

So far, Google, Amazon and Facebook - which are also the same companies making smart speakers - are taking a go-slow approach to voice advertising.

Amazon, which makes the Echo line of smart speakers, and Google, which makes the Home smart speakers, don't currently run paid advertisements on their smart speakers.

While Amazon does not accept ads on Alexa (the name of the virtual assistant that powers Amazon's Echo devices), advertising is allowed on Alexa features where users are already accustomed to hearing ads, such as on music streaming services or news channels, according to an Amazon spokesperson.

Facebook's Portal - which also has Amazon's Alexa built in - doesn't run ads, but users might hear them from third-party apps similarly to the way they would on an Amazon speaker. Data that Facebook collects from users of its Portal devices (think: the recipes you look up) can also be used to improve targeting on other Facebook-owned properties, Vox publication Recode reported.

Fear of a user backlash

The caution towards opening smart speakers to ads more broadly is likely due to a fear of annoying users. In 2017, Google got backlash when its Google Assistant voice just mentioned the opening of the new "Beauty and the Beast" movie in its summary of the day. Even though Google insisted the movie mention was not actually a paid ad, it felt like an intrusion to some users.

Indeed, a 2018 Survata survey showed that only 17% of Amazon Echo and Echo Dot owners said they would not mind hearing ads, while 22% of Google Home users and 35% of Apple HomePod users said the same, Business Insider reported.

But attitudes may be changing. In June, Adobe found that 42% of smart speaker owners prefer voice ads to TV and online ads, up from 39% in February, according to Forbes. Additionally, 43% of respondents said they find voice ads less intrusive than TV, print, online, and social ads.

Consumers are just getting acclimated to smart speakers and remain wary of privacy and security issues regarding voice technology, said Kent Lewis, the founder and president of Anvil Media, a marketing agency that incorporates voice search optimization strategy into its capabilities.

Lewis predicted that over the next year or two users might feel increasingly more comfortable hearing brand and product recommendations from their smart speakers.

"As the products roll out, there will be greater trust with adoption," Lewis said. "Early research shows consumers are okay with ads as long as they're relevant and don't feel intrusive."

New kinds of audio ads for a new breed of devices

For now, most of the ads you'll hear on smart speakers are tied to specific apps that stream audio on the speakers. For instance:

• Pandora sells ads that play only in streams on Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Amazon and Google have launched free, ad-supported music streaming services exclusively for their smart speakers, according to Business Insider Intelligence.

These music-streaming ads are not very different than old-fashioned radio ads. But experts say for advertising to really take off on smart speakers, innovative new ad formats and concepts need to be created.

One method of paid smart speaker advertising could involve companies paying to have Alexa read their search results first when someone asks her to look something up, similar to the way paid Google searches work, according to Business Insider Intelligence.

Companies could also pay for Alexa to suggest their brands based on past purchases and other shopping data.

Smart speakers are becoming part of the decision making process when people shop, said Israel Mirsky, the executive director of global technology and emerging platforms at the agency OMD Worldwide, which recently published a study about smart speaker marketing.

"This is the dawn of a new mode of consumer behavior," Mirsky said. "People are creating new behaviors for themselves and new habits. Brands are recognizing the importance of that."

Brand awareness campaigns are most common in audio advertising in its early stages, according to Lewis, although direct response ads can eventually be effective as well.

"They will really hit a peak in two to four years out," Lewis said. "Until then, it will be primarily passive ads driving awareness and intent."

Of course, screens aren't going to completely disappear anytime soon. So advertisers and publishers will continue to invest most of their time and money on traditional, visual internet ads. But as smart speakers turn up in more places, you can expect advertisers to target your ears as well as your eyes.