Voiceworks, which claims to be the world’s first full-service voice consultancy, has launched with voice-activated Premier League content for smart speakers.

The London-based firm said it’s a voice-first agency focused on innovative technology, search and content solutions for the rapidly-growing digital assistant marketplace.

Voiceworks said it aims to provide authoritative voice consultancy and content development services for its UK and international clients. It will also publish its own content, produced by an in-house team of experts with extensive broadcast careers.

The global smart speaker market is one of the fastest-growing technology sectors.

A recent report by B2B analyst firm MarketsandMarkets forecasts that it will grow from $1.57 billion in 2017 to $11.79 billion by 2023. Voiceworks helps clients maximise voice technology opportunities, as well as creating branded content for worldwide consumption.

The launch coincides with the announcement of Voiceworks’ smart speaker sport content service for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant – Sport Social.

Sport Social is unlike any other sports content service currently available via voice assistants. It is the first human-voiced app to give daily, up-to-date football news during the English Premier League season.

Fans across the world will be able to access premium digital audio content in the form of short daily updates, specific to their favourite club, team line ups, post-match reviews for every Premier League game, and daily podcasts, covering all latest news from the world’s most popular football league.

The content will be available on demand from 10 August, the start of the 2019/20 Premier League season, which will allow fans to access updates wherever and whenever they want.

Currently, over a third of smart speaker users are asking for sport content the firm said.

Led by Sophie Hind, the former Regional Strategy Director for media and entertainment group, Global Europe’s largest radio company, the Voiceworks team consists of voice, audio, technology and search specialists, all of whom have had successful careers in commercial and public service broadcasting.

This extensive expertise gives the Voiceworks’ team an innate understanding of how brands can build relationships with consumers and create unique and interactive experiences in the voice first world.

Voiceworks has already established an ongoing partnership with AWS Consulting Partner and Alexa Voice agency – Cation Consulting.

This allows for a full 360 degree offering, when creating a comprehensive voice strategy for clients across all platforms, including Google and Amazon along with other advanced AI solutions.

“The opportunity for voice activation is at an all-time high with speech recognition now at 95%”, Hind said.

“It’s estimated that half of all searches will be made via voice-technology next year so it’s crucial that brands consider their voice-activated offering and strategy.

“With our broad range of technology, search and broadcast skills, Voiceworks can offer differentiated services that help clients develop all elements of voice experience.

Research shows that three quarters of regular voice tech users think that brands should have unique personalities and voices for their apps and skills and not just use the smartphone assistant voice.

Voiceworks aims to help brands develop audio branding strategies so they have a recognisable brand voice, music and sonic identity along with high-quality human voiced content.”