From all the voice platforms out there Amazon Alexa is the one offering more monetization options for creators. Even if these options are still limited, there are reports by several successful skills that are doing ok. No one seem to be the next Facebook, Insta or Uber just yet. As far I know, Google Assistant has little to no option of monetization, Samsung Bixby is offering some prizes now for capsules builders, but that’s not a monetization strategy and Microsoft Cortana doesn’t have any as far as I know either. I talked about monetization strategies a while back and that the time I said:

The most obvious monetization strategy is what’s known in Alexa as ISP: In skill purchasing, a way to sell premium content such as game features and interactive stories or sell products. 

Amazon is the one pushing the most for monetization options. This is not that strange, because Bezos, and by extension, Amazon understand incentives very well. E.g: affiliate program in amazon.com, the free tier in AWS and prizes for Alexa skills.

To top that Amazon announced yesterday that developers can now sell consumables in their skills leveraging in skill purchasing.

A consumable is an in-skill product that customers can purchase, use, and then purchase again. In addition to one-time purchases and subscriptions, consumables give developers more ways to deliver premium experiences to customers.

Meaning, users can pay to unlock features in your skills.

The feature is already live in Storyline and VoiceApps where you can use consumables with visual tools in addition of the Alexa Skill Kit CLI.

Another opportunity for developers and skill creators to monetize their work with Alexa skills. As I have said before, developer attention is the currency for companies today and by providing recurring means of revenue to skills developers Amazon keeps getting the attention in the voice space.