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This was one of key takeaways from the virtual CONNECTIONS Summit hosted this week by market research firm Parks Associates, which took place in conjunction with CES 2021. The event featured a multitude of panel discussions covering a variety of topics related to the adoption of smart home technology.

One of the first panels to take place during the event focused on smart home platforms and how consumers are leveraging them to integrate the multitude of connected devices tha ...read more

According to research done by Parks Associates, technology was impressed into service at greater volumes than in previous years due to the stay-at-home orders in much of the country. They found one-third of smart device owners in U.S. households with broadband have increased usage of their devices during the COVID-19 pandemic, including 46% of smart door lock owners. As market adoption and usage increase, however, new challenges in the consumer experience are emerging, which cou ...read more

Brian Cooley will look at whether technology can make the case that we keep doing almost everything from home. He'll talk with Jennifer Kent, senior director at Parks Associates; Paul Lee, global head of Research, Tech, Media and Telecoms at Deloitte UK; and Megan Wollerton, senior editor, CNET Home.

From the article "CES 2021 continues today. Here's how to watch CNET's Day 2 livestream from home" by Kent German.

The coronavirus pandemic has been a boon for major streaming services, including Netflix Inc., Disney’s Hulu and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, whose subscriber base soared last year in the midst of growing demand for content from shut-in customers. Some 95% of U.S. households subscribe to at least one of these three services, according to Parks Associates, a research firm.

From the article "A New Service Seeks to Streamline Your Streaming" by Lillian Rizzo.

To pick apart where at-home behavior works and where it doesn't, I assembled three of the smartest people in tech to sort this out in CNET's Next Big Thing presentation at CES 2021: Jennifer Kent, senior director at Parks Associates, Paul Lee, global head of Research, Tech, Media and Telecoms at Deloitte UK, and Megan Wollerton, senior editor, CNET Home. 

From the article "CNET's Next Big Thing: Will our homes remain our headquarters?" by Brian Cooley.

While connected home gadgets have always figured heavily into CES’ agendas in recent years, this year marked a shift in the specific kinds of smart devices people want, according to Jennifer Kent, vp of research at Parks Associates, who is speaking in multiple CES sessions at this year’s event, which runs Jan. 11-14.

Consumers are less concerned with remotely monitoring their homes when they aren’t there and more interested in products that enhance their at-home experience. ...read more

And companies are already catching on. Amazon, Apple, and Roku (ROKU) allow consumers to buy individual channels through their platforms that they can pay for through a set billing option and view using a single interface.

“From a consumer standpoint it’s a slam dunk,” Parks Associates research director Steve Nason told Yahoo Finance. “Because of the plethora of services out there people have tons of choice, but with that comes tons of confusion, tons of tension, tons of tim ...read more

Streaming is continuing to replace other forms of viewing. As pay-TV subscriptions continued to wane in 2020, the number of households subscribing to multiple streaming services reached 61%, up from 48% in 2019, according to Parks Associates. Ampere Analysis estimated the average number of subscription services per home at 3.8 even before the pandemic, up from 2.8 a year ago. Parks puts the total number of SVOD outlets at nearly 300, double the tally from 2014. All that streamin ...read more