Vizio Talks Up New SmartCast Capabilities

The adoption of voice-enabled technology on TVs is being talked up a storm.

Vizio Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO) is addressing that in its latest update to its SmartCast operating system—the platform engine enabling its smart TVs—with the launch of Vizio Voice.

The new feature is the first time Irvine-based Vizio, with a market cap of $4.2 billion, has built voice capability into its TVs. It lets users run app and channel searches with their voices and a remote.  

Users can also control the volume and picture quality with the new feature.  

Older TV model owners can use the voice function through the SmartCast app.

Voice assistance, particularly on smartphones or in-home speakers (think Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Echo or Google’s Alexa) have become commonplace, with millennials relying on the technology the most. However, researcher eMarketer said usage is rising across age groups, particularly with last year’s stay-at-home orders.

The research firm forecasts U.S. consumers using voice-enabled devices at least once a month—smartphones, smart speakers, cars, TVs, wearables and other connected technology—will top 132 million this year, and will rise to 135.6 million in 2022.