Smart Home Tech Is Apparently Excluding Some Diverse Audiences – Study

Research conducted by My Code, a digital media company for multicultural groups, has found that some Black, Hispanic, and Asian-American Pacific Islander audiences feel excluded from the smart-home tech market.

The study, which surveyed 1,295 people in the US last November, suggested this might be because advertisers aren’t prioritizing marketing to these audiences. The study also noted a difference in interest between multicultural homeowners and renters.

Based on the survey, 63% of Black and 66% of Latinx renters would purchase smart-home techs such as smart locks, smart-home light switches and smart speakers.

But 51% of Black and 54% of Latinx renters still feel that at least one leading brand offering smart-home products is not meant for consumers like them, according to the research, indicating a gap between the interest of multicultural audiences and the connection they feel with smart-home tech products.

My Code’s vice president of marketing Adrian Whant suggested one of the barriers to adoption is that smart-home products are too expensive.

It was also stated that smart-home tech also markets towards a specific lifestyle in ads that don’t resonate with multicultural renters.

Whant told Adweek having diverse ads is not sufficient enough. Multicultural people are needed behind the scenes of product design and marketing to remove the wedge between audiences and consumers these advertisers are missing out on.

“We see our research as a way to start these conversations to make sure everyone has access to the technology,” Whant added.

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