- Meghan Markle is least favoured celebrity to be a voice assistant; followed by Malcom Turnbull; Kylie Jenner; Bill Cosby and David Beckham.
- Morgan Freeman is most preferred celebrity to be a voice assistant; followed by George Clooney; Sean Connery; Nicole Kidman and David Attenborough.
- 69% of Australians (11.3 million) have used a voice assistant such as Siri, Google Assistant; or smart speakers such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomePod.
- 6 in 10 Aussies use voice assistant to check weather; 54% to set an alarm; 53% to ask directions.
- NSW leads the country when it comes to asking sex related questions; followed by Victoria, WA and QLD.
Sydney – 6 June 2019: She’s a former Hollywood star and now British royalty, but the voice of Meghan Markle is a turn off when it comes to which celebrities Aussies would choose to be their voice assistant, the largest study into how Australian’s use voice assisted technology and smart speakers has revealed.
While the Duchess of Sussex ranked as having the least favoured voice, the soothing southern drawl of actor Morgan Freeman topped the list of celebrities Australian’s would choose to be their assistants.
The study called ‘The Voice of Us’ is the most comprehensive ever undertaken in Australia and was commissioned by creative agency The Works, part of RXP Group. The online research of more than 2,000 Australians aged 15+ was overlaid with census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, to gauge the increased popularity and use of assistants and smart speakers including Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana.
Douglas Nicol, creative partner at The Works and leader of ‘The Voice of Us’ study said: “The way we interact with technology has moved from clicking, to swiping and now we’re increasingly using our voices to make requests using assistants and smart speakers.
Freeman’s voice topped the preferred voice list for both men and women, but for men the voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, was second; Arnold Schwarzenegger (3rd); Samuel L. Jackson (4th) and George Clooney (5th).
For women, Sean Connery was second; Nicole Kidman (3rd); George Clooney (4th) and David Attenborough (5th).
Aussies love using their voice
The use of assistants and smart speakers are booming in Australia with 11.3 million people or 69% of the population reporting they have used their voice to interact with one or more devices. Smartphones are the most popular device to use assistants, with 61% of respondents claiming to have used their smartphones for voice related inquiries, followed by tablets (17%); laptops (14%) and smart speakers (12%).
Almost three million Australians (2.9 million) now own a smart speaker, making us one of the fastest adopters of the technology across the world. More than half of smart speaker owners (56%) have a Google device, followed by Amazon at 13%. Apple’s HomePod comes in third at 8%.
Most preferred celebrity voice assistants
- Morgan Freeman
- George Clooney
- Sean Connery
- Nicole Kidman
- David Attenborough
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Donald Trump
- Chris Hemsworth
- John Cleese
- Elvis Presley
Least preferred celebrity voice assistants
- Meghan Markle
- Malcom Turnbull
- Kylie Jenner
- Bill Cosby
- David Beckham
