Dec 18, 2023 15:00:00

An advertising company that develops ``active listening'' that continuously records daily conversations with smartphones and smart speakers, analyzes demand in real time, and delivers targeted advertisements finally appears.

Smartphones and smart speakers that are enabled to automatically summon voice assistants continue to recognize the sounds around them throughout the day. For this reason, many users must have felt worried that the collected voice data would be sent somewhere and used for something other than voice assistants.

Cox Media Group (CMG) , a new media company based in the United States, has developed a system that records users' conversations with smartphones and smart speakers, analyzes demand from the content of the conversations, and delivers targeted advertisements. It became clear that they were recruiting users.

Marketing Company Claims That It Actually Is Listening to Your Phone and Smart Speakers to Target Ads
https://www.404media.co/cmg-cox-media-actually-listening-to-phones-smartspeakers-for-ads-marketing/

CMG has named the system that distributes advertisements based on recorded data ``Active Listening,'' and has published a web page that emphasizes the functions and effects of active listening. At the time of writing the article, the page has been deleted, but the archive remains on the Wayback Machine.

The content of the active listening appeal page looks like this. At the top of the page it says, ``By using active listening, CMG is now able to leverage voice data to narrow down the targeting of advertising,'' and below that is a list of companies interested in active listening. An inquiry form has been set up for you.

In addition, CMG uses users' everyday conversations such as, ``My car lease ends in a month so I need to start planning,'' ``Isn't a minivan the best option for us?'' and ``It looks like there's mold growing on the ceiling.'' We are appealing that we can find customers who are interested in our customers.

Additionally, CMG lists the following platforms as ad delivery destinations using active listening.
・Internet TV
・Display advertising
・SNS
・YouTube
・Google search
・Bing search

Furthermore, CMG seems to have anticipated its customers' concerns about active listening, saying, ``We know what you're thinking. is legal because users agree to the terms of service when downloading software updates or apps,'' he says, emphasizing that active listening works with user consent.

Please note that CMG has deleted the page regarding active listening at the time of article creation. In addition, CMG told foreign media 404 Media, ``CMG does not access anything other than anonymized and encrypted datasets collected by third parties, nor listen to conversations. We regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred.'