Blog articles from 05/2022

As of April 2021, 66% of US broadband households are familiar with telehealth services compared to 50% in May of 2020. The use of telehealth services has more than quadrupled, increasing from 15% in 2019 to 64% in 2021. A confluence of factors is driving the expansion of healthcare into the home. 1. Reimbursement changes: Over the past two years, CMS has made substantial changes to support virtual care reimbursement, including expanded reimbursement of telephonic evaluation and...

After email and video communications, cloud storage services are the next most common tool used by remote workforces. These solutions enhance collaboration beyond traditional, thread-based file exchange capabilities, adding centralized data backup, coordinated sharing among teams, and version control history for concurrent editing. As with videoconferencing, platforms like Apple iCloud, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive were already familiar to most remote workers pre-pandemic, having...

  During the first quarter of 2022, Netflix recorded a net loss of 200,000 subscribers to its streaming service for the first time in over a decade; however, Netflix remains the leader in SVOD services. According to Parks Associates OTT Tracker data, Netflix maintains an estimated 67 million customers in the United States. Netflix executives claim to have 222 million paying subscribers worldwide, but estimate an additional 100 million using a shared password to gain...

IoT adoption is growing across the world. This includes not just consumer smart home device adoption, but IoT deployments in industrial and business settings. IoT sensors and devices capture data and perform tasks, communicating over IP and other protocols with cloud or local systems to create intelligent systems and enable automation. These solutions support a wide variety of use cases, enabling more functionality while saving companies money and increasing revenue opportunities....

Nearly all home device owners are interested in a unified app, according to Parks Associates latest research of 10,000 US internet households in the US regardless if the devices are attached to security systems or are single point solutions. Smart home security devices have similar value propositions as traditional security systems and may service as an alternative due to the low cost and easy DIY installation options. While security systems with professional monitoring provide...

Comcast and Charter Communications announced a 50:50 joint venture between the two cable giants to develop a streaming platform that will be available nationwide. Both companies’ broadband and cable video businesses are excluded from the partnership. Comcast will contribute streaming service Xumo, which Comcast owns, in addition to licensing its aggregated streaming platform Flex and contributing its retail business for its XClass TVs. Charter will contribute $900 million, which will be...

As the smart home industry looks to extend beyond early adopters and general tech enthusiasts, integrations and partnerships are critical for smart home products to move to mass-market adoption. As of Q4 2021, 37% of US broadband households own a smart home device and smart home device-owning households now own an average of eight devices in their home. The smart home ultimately starts at the front door, with devices like smart door locks, smart garage door openers, networked...