i3 - March/April 2020 - 51

By Steve Koenig

Business

M A R K E T B E AT

Audio at CES
2020: Innovation
has a Soundtrack

Top to Bottom: David Becker/Getty Images. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

itnessing the innovative audio solutions at
CES 2020 - from
earbuds to amplifiers - you
could hear the cash register
ringing and with good reason.
U.S. consumers are all ears
when it comes to audio content.
In fact, CTA research forecasts
they'll spend $9.1 billion this
year on streaming audio services. What's more, audio listeners crave premium
experiences that deliver convenience, quality, immersion and
value. Before we describe
today's audio consumer in more
detail, let's examine the audio
technology we saw - and
heard - at CES 2020.
True wireless earbuds were
arguably the hottest audio
commodity in 2019 and
signals from CES 2020
point to more growth.
No surprise, really, given
CTA forecasts nearly 70
million pairs of true wireless earbuds will ship this
Technics
year, generating $8.2 bilEAH-AZ70W.
lion in wholesale dollars.
And while noise-cancelling has become
table stakes, many solutions were also
sporting improved battery life. If you're
worried about losing your earbuds,
never fear; Technics announced a companion app for their earbuds to help
locate them.
C TA . t e c h / i 3

i3_0320_Business_Marketbeat.indd 51

Home Audio

CES 2020 also featured incredible innovation in soundbars. Answering the call
for more immersive entertainment experiences, support for Dolby Atmos and
DTS:X are standard for most 2020
products. But looking deeper at the
soundbar solutions shown at CES 2020
reveals innovation so clever you might
miss it. Take LG, for example, which is
using AI in its soundbars to 'self-calibrate' for room acoustics. This is another
great example of AI handling small
tasks. No more walking around the listening room with a microphone to do
the job.
VIZIO showed its new
Elevate soundbar featuring speakers at each
end that rotate
upward when a Dolby
Atmos or DTS:X signal is detected. And
Samsung featured a
new technology called
Q-Symphony on its
Q-series TVs that when
paired with a compatible soundbar uses the speakers in the TV to create a more immersive sound field.

Sound Quality

It's clear the audio category at CES 2020
brought the noise. But what about the
acoustics of the marketplace? Enter

CTA's latest research study published in
December 2019, Consumer Audio
Market: A Segmentation Analysis that
identifies audio customers based on listening and buying behavior.
The study confirms the addressable
U.S. market for audio products is massive: 199 million adults (83% of the U.S.
adult population). First in line to buy are
the "audio lovers," younger technology
and music enthusiasts who want innovative audio equipment with advanced
features and are willing to pay for quality. Audio lovers represent only 10% of
audio buyers, so we must look beyond
them to grow our businesses. "Luxury
spenders" are another, albeit small,
group (about 9% of today's market) that
can help. These buyers are moderately
tech savvy and have an interest in music
but spend big on audio products thanks
to high income.
"Intentional listeners" are the
inverse of luxury spenders but represent a sizable 43% of the addressable
audio market. Intentional listeners are
early to mid-tech adopters who enjoy
music and appreciate audio quality but
are price sensitive.
As new technologies restructure the
audio category, they also reshape the
audio customer. Sharpen your understanding of the audio market with the
latest CTA Research reports and
industry forecasts.
MARCH/APRIL 2020

3/13/20 5:11 PM

https://shop.cta.tech/products/2019-consumer-audio-market-a-segmentation-analysis https://shop.cta.tech/products/2019-consumer-audio-market-a-segmentation-analysis http:// https://cta.tech/i3

i3 - March/April 2020

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