New connected health research shows fitness-related devices account for most adoption while care of chronic conditions still lags

Parks Associates today announced new digital health research showing adoption of digital health/wellness devices among U.S. broadband households is steadily increasing, with an increase from 26% in 2014 to 33% now. 360 View: Empowering Healthcare Consumers reports most of these devices are fitness-related, with connected fitness trackers reaching 10% penetration in 2015, while smart watches reached 4%.

“Digital fitness tracker is the fastest growing category in the connected health device market, with Fitbit the clear leader with more than 50% market share, and its early 2015 acquisition of FitStar will help the company expand its wellness services,” said Harry Wang, Director, Mobile and Health Products Research, Parks Associates. “Attrition of fitness tracker usage, a closely watched metric, is not as bad as the industry once perceived, at least not among existing users. Our study finds that only 12% of digital fitness tracker owners have cut back usage from at least 1-3 times per week to less than once a week.   Overall, three-fourths of digital fitness tracker owners use the device at least 1-3 times per week, and Fitbit has the most active users—68% of Fitbit owners use the device daily, the highest among all brands.”

Parks Associates’ survey of 5,000 U.S. broadband households found consumers ages 25-44 are the primary owners of connected health devices, but ownership among consumers 65 and older is close to the national average (31% vs. an average of 33%) and registered a large jump year-over-year (24% in 2014 to 31% this year).

“Americans overall have begun to tap technology for health and care management, but they are under-informed about wellness benefits offered by their health insurers and overly optimistic about their health,” Wang said. “Our study shows that 40% of insured consumers are not aware of any wellness benefits from their health insurers, and although more than 60% of consumers have at least one chronic condition, only 20% are concerned about it. Healthcare providers and wellness app developers could tap into these market opportunities by boosting educational efforts, enlisting collaboration from other types of care providers, and pushing for greater service integration with current technologies.”

360 View: Empowering Healthcare Consumers analyzes current leaders in the digital fitness tracker market and device and app usage. Topics include:

• Consumer lifestyle, health behaviors, and tech use
• Market, usage, and purchase triggers for health devices and apps
• Patient efforts in managing conditions, challenges encountered, tools needed, and preferred engagement approaches
• Evaluation of wellness and fitness app usage
• Access to professional care and adoption and usage of personal care management services

360 View: Empowering Healthcare Consumers is available to purchase at www.parksassociates.com. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific digital health data, contact Holly Sprague at [email protected], 720.987.6614.

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com
 

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