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Microsoft might be a little disappointed this holiday season. Parks Associates research shows many U.S. shoppers have already picked the game-console brand they plan to buy, with 36% of console shoppers planning to purchase a Sony gaming console and only 27% planning to buy a Microsoft product.

Sony and Microsoft are releasing next-generation consoles this month. Sony reports sales of PlayStation 4 exceeded 1 million consoles in the first 24 hours after release. Nintendo is ...read more

In another study, by Parks Associates, a quarter of consumers were found to be using mobile commerce apps to help with in-store purchase decisions. In that study, the top categories for mobile shopping were product research, barcode scanning and interaction with the retailer or brand app.

That study also found that many (42%) of U.S. smartphone owners bought something through their mobile device in the last month.

However, the market is hardly uniform. For example, men a ...read more

Retailers looking to capture more of the consumer electronics market would be wise to embrace — rather than fight — the use of smartphones.

According to Parks Associates, 25% of CE buyers said they used mobile commerce apps on their smartphones to help with in-store purchase decisions. Among the things the consumers used their phones for: product research, barcode scanning and interaction with the retailer or product brand app.

“There's no such thing as a pure 'in-store' ...read more

Even so, over-the-top services continue to grow, according to nearly all studies on the topic. Parks Associates recently reported that 44% of U.S. broadband homes have a subscription to an online video service such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon. Added together, these various findings seem to indicate that the availability of OTT services is not causing cord-cutting, but rather is expanding the pie for video viewing.

From the article, "Number Of Cord-Cutters Steady Year Ov ...read more

Over-the-top viewing is on the rise, most consumers watch some TVs and movies online, and now Netflix has won an Emmy.Clearly, the sky is falling on traditional TV and multichannel service providers.

Meanwhile, over-the-top usage in general is rising. Parks Associates recently reported that 44% of US broadband homes have a subscription to an online video service such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon.

From the article, "Cord-Shaving & Mobile Viewing Rise, Report Says" by ...read more

A new report from Parks Associates says Roku is the most-used streaming video media device in the U.S. In a 1Q 2013 independent survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households with a streaming video media device, Parks 37% primarily use a Roku compared to 24% that primarily use an Apple TV.

From the article, "Roku Is Preferred Streaming Media Device, Says New Parks Associate Survey, Beating Apple TV."

After years of disappointment, things are looking up for the music industry, at least in terms of streaming music services.

According to new research from Parks Associates, the number of users of major music streaming services (such as Pandora or Spotify) has increased by more than 200% since 2011. What’s more, the growth in users willing to pay for those services has increased more than 80%.

“One of the things we’ve noticed is these [streaming companies’] business model ...read more

In 2013, mobile video will be just 13% of all digital video ad spending, about $520 million. By 2017, analysts expect it to be 30% of all digital video ad spending.

Research from Parks Associates shows that younger viewers have more easily adopted TV Everywhere than their older counterparts. Aside from age, those younger adopters aren’t very different from traditional cable subscribers. They have similar education, income, even marital status.

Pay-TV operators, especiall ...read more