Blog articles from 08/2020

The COVID-19 crisis is significantly affecting broadband household behavior and spending. With record-level unemployment and continuing uncertainty about the future, consumers have cut discretionary spending and continue to be cautious about the economy, the start of school, and overall impact. While spending cuts affect most product categories, consumers continue spending on technology for productivity and entertainment. Purchase data from Parks Associates’ surveys show this...

Smart speakers can present strong use cases for smart home devices to the consumer. By bundling smart speakers with smart plugs, smart light bulbs, or smart thermostats, companies can deliver a guided introduction to the smart home experience. We just released new research from Smart Home Buyer Journey and User Experience  showing that smart speakers are serving as a gateway to smart home adoption, as 16% of broadband households purchased a smart speaker prior to purchasing...

Some of our latest consumer research, Households with Children: Dominant Tech Purchasers , reveals households with children, particularly those ages 6-11, are the leading demographic groups for technology product and entertainment service purchasing. About 30% of broadband households have children at home, which translates to 32 million households. In general, households with children are young enough to be receptive to smart home technology but old enough to have the...

Our new research, Residential Security: Consumer Insights 2020 ,  finds security system adoption, after holding steady at 25-28% for over five years, jumped up to 33% of US broadband households at the end of 2019, up from 28% in 2019. This growth comes as consumers have more options, including DIY and ad hoc monitoring through smart home devices. Year-end 2019 represented a big win for the residential security industry, but 2020 will bring new challenges to the...

vMVPDs, online pay-TV services that offer bundles of live channels, entered the video services market in 2015 with a promise of lower monthly costs and more customizable channel packages than traditional pay-TV, and no restrictive contracts. The goal was to capture dissatisfied traditional pay-TV subscribers and those interested in an online live/linear TV experience. vMVPDs largely delivered on that promise by building a solid base of subscribers across several different providers, like...

As of 2020, consumers have an average of around 12 connected devices in their homes. This is up from an average of around 8 devices back in 2015 – so a growth of around 4 devices in the past five years. In the next five years we expect this growth in adoption to really accelerate and by the year 2025, we estimate consumers will own an average of 20 internet-connected devices. This growth will come from a growing adoption of all types of devices including connected health products,...

Parks Associates’ seventh annual   Connected Health Summit: Consumer Engagement & Innovation  will take place virtually on September 1-3, 2020.  Th is executive conference focuses on the impact of connected devices and IoT healthcare solutions on consumers at home. Rob Schneider , Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations at OMRON Healthcare, Inc.  and a member of the event's advisory board, shares his insights on the effects of COVID-19 on...

The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the fitness and wellness market – due to social distancing and shelter in place orders, and with many gyms closed, a large percentage of consumers have been looking for alternative workout solutions. Our latest research shows that between Q1 2019 and Q1 2020, intention to purchase a smart watch rose from 13% of US BB Hhs to 20% of US BB Hhs. Over the past several years we’ve seen new innovations in technology that have...