VentureBeat

Cross-device, cross-channel identification is a hot topic these days. A newly launched platform from ZenithOptimedia and NinthDecimal, for instance, relies on that capability for scoring which ads from which channels on which devices led you to walk into a store. It then adds the resulting real-world foot traffic to its user profiles.

“Tracking devices to the user-specific level and tracking users to the device-specific level and uniting these data sets is pretty huge for di ...read more

But Parks Associates director research Barbara Kraus said LinkedIn users won’t be surprised by this use of their information.

“People see LinkedIn as a business resource,” she told me via email, “making B2B ads a natural fit.”

“Since people are promoting themselves [and each other],” she said, “promotions of business-related products or services seem less obtrusive.”

“If they want people to notice them [because of their LinkedIn profiles or published content],” Kraus ...read more

Roku and Apple dominated the TV streaming market last year, but now Google’s Chromecast has pulled ahead of Apple to become a front-runner.

Research firm Parks Associates just released some new data on the most dominant brands when it comes to set-top boxes and streaming sticks (via 9to5Google).

Roku is still in the lead since it made up 29% of streaming set-top box sales in the first three quarters of 2014, but Google’s Chromecast came in second with 20% of the market.

By next year, almost half of the U.S. population will be over 50 (45 percent). In another 15 years, the number of citizens over 65 will be double what it was in 2009, the latest year for which data is available.

The ramifications for health care are enormous, and the potential for technology to address the impact just as great. It’s why Parks Associates estimates that there’s a $30 billion market for this demographic over the next five years.

From the article "HealthBeat ...read more

And Parks Associates’ Jennifer Kent described Apple Pay as “a game changer because Apple does not release products without the necessary marketing resources.” None of the other mobile payment players “has put nearly enough resources into consumer education,” she said, “resulting in a lack of traction for the mobile payments space as a whole.”

There’s also the matter of timing, she said. Next year is when merchants will be upgrading their point-of-sale systems because of a ne ...read more

For healthcare, that’s a $20 billion+ market over the next three years, according to Parks Associates. It’s such an inviting market that AARP and UnitedHealthcare launched The Longevity Network this week as a hub for digital health ideas targeted at the 50+ market in general. Suggested categories — which target Boomers now and in their coming years — include medication management, aging with vitality, vital-sign monitoring, care navigation, emergency detection and response, phys ...read more

“If consumers feel that Amazon is manipulating things like availability of items and recommendation lists, the impact can easily extend to the entire Amazon marketplace,” Parks Associates’ analyst Tejas Mehta told us.

“Amazon can ill afford to lose goodwill with the writers and must tread water carefully without alienating the writers who produce the content that it hopes to sell through its own publishing platform in the future.”

From the article "European authors join ...read more

The wearables market represents a significant market opportunity for device OEMs. But like any emerging computing platform, wearables still have to figure out where they sit in a consumer’s lifestyle. No question, consumer awareness and adoption have increased recently, but OEMs, developers, and device manufacturers still have to consider and overcome several market barriers. We’ve summarized some of the top wearable industry challenges below.

OEMs still searching for and de ...read more