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“If we think about any company that tried to make a dent in that, what comes to mind is Harmony,” says Paul Erickson, senior analyst at research company Parks Associates. “It wasn’t just that they gave you the ability to condense multiple remotes into one; there had been universal remotes for quite a long time. But a lot of them only had 80 percent of the controls that you needed for that Blu-ray player, or A/V receiver, or soundbar.”

From the article "How the Smart Remote L ...read more

“It’s no surprise that the tech giants like Google, Amazon and Samsung have moved into this product category,” says Brad Russell, research director at consulting company Parks Associates. “Home networking is essential infrastructure for the connected home.”

From the article "It looks a lot like Amazon wants to hide Alexa inside your web router" by Thomas McMullan.

But it's obvious that Roku is feeling the heat from Amazon's aggressive push in the TV streaming (and smart TV) market. According to research from Parks Associates, Roku had the lead in streaming media market share in the US as of May 2018, but Amazon's share has been increasing.

From the article "Roku Adds Google Assistant and 2 New Players to Its Lineup" by Lauren Goode.

The idea behind this is that if your TV sounds better, people will stream more, which is the metric Roku cares most about, Klarke says. Roku likes to say that it's the US's number one streaming content system based on streaming hours, which are up 56 percent year-over-year for the company. According to a report from research firm Parks Associates, Roku holds the largest share of streaming media players in households in the US, although Amazon's share has been growing.

Starting with just lighting also keeps things simple for Ikea. Rather than slapping a chip in the nearest Frostig, it entered the market playing to its strengths.

"They've had lighting fixtures for quite a long time," says Brad Russell, a research analyst at Parks Associates. "It's a natural fit for them. One of the use cases for lighting is design, so that fits into the design consciousness of the brand. Also more generally speaking, lighting is a low-cost entry point for a ...read more

Books and videogames have done this for years, but achieving good results with video has proved difficult. Beyond making the technology work, open-ended storytelling doesn't make much sense from a business standpoint if you're a conventional studio or TV network.

“Truthfully, this was not something that could really be implemented on a broad scale until digital video came along,” says Glenn Hower, a senior digital media analyst with research firm Parks Associates. “Not only ...read more

The name YouTube alone carries weight as a signifier of people’s viewing habits migrating online. And for networks taking part in YouTube TV’s launch, that could make coming aboard the service seem like a smarter move than saying no. “YouTube brings the brand in online video (to live internet TV),” says Glenn Hower, a senior digital media analyst with research firm Parks Associates. If any platform is likely to cannibalize (more) viewers, it’s YouTube. To not participate as more ...read more

“There seemed to be an attitude around the industry that after House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, there was no way Netflix could catch lightning in a bottle again,” says Glenn Hower, a senior digital media analyst with research firm Parks Associates. “Well, after cranking out more hits like Luke Cage, Stranger Things and The OA, it looks like the streaming giant really knows what they are doing in the content creation space.”

From the article "Netflix Is Killing It— ...read more