Why Owlet believes a new $99 baby monitor will ‘change its whole business’

The 13-year-old company has previously sold baby monitors, including the Owlet Cam 2, which will be discontinued as the Dream Sight hits its sales channels. The new Dream Sight has a higher resolution and easier setup; notably, it also costs $99, while the older version had a price tag of $159. Jonathan Harris, Owlet’s president who will take over as CEO next month, believes the new product will have a significant impact on the business as it creates a more affordable and accessible entry point for new customers.

“This has been one of the most requested products that our customers have asked us about. They really are looking for a next-generation camera that has higher resolution, easier setup and security,” he said. “We’re super excited about this launch, and I think this is going to change our whole business.”

With the Dream Sight launch, Owlet is poised to acquire new customers and compete more head-on with other baby tech companies like Nanit, VTech and Cubo. Not everyone may want to buy a “smart sock” and be plugged into receiving health data, but almost everyone gets a baby monitor.

As Harris said, “We’re going after the entire parent journey.”

Owlet entering a new playing field

What to Expect, a research arm of Everyday Health that focuses on the baby space, has seen as much as 23% growth for smart baby health trackers since 2022. But monitors on the whole reach more people, and about 67% of people who make a baby registry ask for a baby monitor.

“Of those who did not receive it as a gift off their registry, 52% purchased a monitor before the baby was born, and another 19% purchased one in the baby’s first 3 months,” said Sarah Ryan, What to Expect’s director of research and insights.

Dream Sight will be sold on Owlet’s website, as well as via retail partners like Amazon, Target and Walmart. It will also be packaged with the Dream Sock in the “Dream Duo” bundle, with both using the same app for monitoring. The $99 price point is more in line with the traditional video monitors on the market — for its part, the Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor is $299. Owlet’s sock and monitor bundle will be priced at $379.

Beyond consumer sales, Owlet is also looking to expand its presence in the medical world; it is partnering with the NICU at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Virginia, for example.

Diversifying product portfolios is a popular strategy among companies in the baby space, which face the challenge of their customer “aging out” of their product timeline. Babyletto, for instance, expanded its children’s furniture this summer after seeing the ongoing popularity of its nursery line. Coterie, known for diapers, began selling personal care items like cleanser, lotion and balm earlier this month. And infant formula company Bobbie has diversified with Vitamin D and probiotic drops.

A company growth spurt

The Dream Sight launch comes after a growth spurt for Owlet, brought on in part by regulatory compliance updates. Back in November 2021, Owlet pulled the Smart Sock from shelves following an FDA warning letter about being sold as a medical device without authorization. But it went on to gain authorization and reintroduced itself with the Dream Sock in January 2024. The product has been gaining steam since. This Prime Day, for instance, Owlet saw record sales of the Dream Sock, plus its Duo sock and camera bundle. Total sell-through of units was up 72% versus the prior year, and Owlet ranked as the No. 1 seller in the baby monitor and baby safety categories.

In the second quarter of this year, the company reported revenue of $26.1 million. That was up 25.9% from the same time last year, and it helped secure the largest first-half revenue in the company’s history. Looking ahead, Owlet expects to hit $97 million to $100 million this fiscal year.

Beyond physical products, Owlet has a $9.99 monthly subscription service called Owlet360 that allows users to access more app features; it currently has 66,000 paying subscribers.

Liz Teran, the chief parent officer at Owlet, said the Dream Sight was an opportunity for Owlet to incorporate the latest and greatest in monitoring technology, compared to its last camera, which came out in 2021. The new Dream Sight brings 2025-era chipsets and 2K HD video, plus a stronger connection that can use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The Dream Sight also has a “cry detection” feature. While most cameras will alert parents to noise in their baby’s room, the Dream Sight claims it can specifically tell a cry from other noises.

One of the biggest challenges behind the scenes was bringing this technology to market at an affordable price point, Teran said. But Owlet worked with its contract manufacturers to get the math right, and it will be marketing the product heavily with its retail partners, including a big Target physical presence.

Teran said the company’s best marketing tends to come from word-of-mouth, with about 50% of Dream Sock customers coming from recommendations. She said the hope is that brand recognition will extend to its new offering.

“A lot of them have high brand awareness for Owlet,  but it is limited mostly to the Sock,” Teran said. “A really strong camera offering at a much more affordable price point is definitely a key marketing strategy, in terms of increasing our access and visibility to consumers we weren’t reaching as well before.”