ALEXA . . . PLAY PANDORA:  We’re starting to see a growing body of research around what’s being consumed through voice-enabled digital assistants like Amazon Echo.  The latest research comes from Edison who followed the behaviors of 444 Echo owners as they gave over 15,000 commands to Alexa.  So what are we using these devices for?  In a nut shell, we’re listening to music . . . and a lot of it!  During the study 58% of respondents used their Echoes to listen to music for an astounding 4:34 of average listening time per week.  And this in-home audio consumption is typically a shared experience, with 77% of study participants listening to music with family and friends.  AdWeek provides a full summary of Edison’s findings in the attached link.  While today’s data is great news for audio streamers like Pandora, I’m guessing we’re just in the top of the first inning of connected device listening with so much more growth to come.

FACEBOOK TWISTS THE KNIFE:  It’s fairly common knowledge that Facebook’s Instagram is taking Snapchat to the woodshed with its copy-cat Stories feature, which it launched a year ago.  But what we didn’t realize is just how early FB knew it was hurting Snap.  Over the weekend news broke that FB has been using it’s Onavo VPN (Virtual Private Network) to collect and analyze data on user interaction with Snapchat.  In other words, if your company uses Onavo as its VPN FB can watch how you’re using Snapchat in order to set its Instagram strategy.  Apparently this is perfectly legal under Onavo’s user privacy agreement, but it seems scary powerful.  Talk about a competitive advantage FB was able to leverage to squash an upstart competitor!

ADS ARE GETTING REALLY PERSONAL:  Do you remember the 2002 Tom Cruise movie Minority Report?  I saw it in an actual movie theater (yes, I’m old).  Of all the Hollywood future tech featured in that movie the thing I remember the most is the scene with the OOH advertising which could recognize you by your retina and then deliver customized ads as you passed the interactive billboards.  So could this kind of dynamic advertising actually happen?  The retailer Cost Plus World Market is taking a baby step in that direction with its current shopper-customized print campaign.  The creative is customized down to the name, location, type of home, and lifestyle of each consumer receiving the ads.  So how is Cost Plus doing this?  According to AdWeek the solution is old school simple – they’re just asking customers to enter personal information about themselves into a website.  Then they turn that data is into amazingly personalized (not to mention contextually relevant) ads.  Granted, this approach may not be as automated as the instant retina recognition in Minority Report, but it plays to the same theory that advertising customized to individual consumers is the way of the future.

BONUS HIT:  Here’s a quick follow from Friday’s article about SoundCloud’s last ditch funding effort.  According to RAIN SoundCloud took the money – $170M for majority ownership of the company.  Included in the deal are a new CEO and CFO.  So has SoundCloud bought enough time to turn things around?  I think you could read in to founder Alexander Ljung’s statement two ways when we says “As I said, we’re not going anywhere.”  Only time will tell.

Have a great Monday guys!