Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Apparently you'll share your data to stop coronavirus

New Parks Associates survey says most of us are up for contact tracing, if the conditions are right.

Beyond the masks, distancing and the development of an eventual vaccine, the novel coronavirus is being fought on the streets with data: Who has it and who have they been in contact with? But people are pushing back on the idea of contact tracing in an era when many of us have had enough of the ways technology tracks us. Now what?

Parks Associates has just completed a survey of consumers' willingness to share phone data to help control COVID-19. 52% said they would be, and another 20% said yes if they were afforded at least one basic assurance, like making the process opt-in or anonymized. "It's pretty strong validation that this could be an option that some consumers are willing to do," says Jennifer Kent, Senior Director at Parks Associates. "For this moment, for this purpose, it's something that a lot of consumers are open to."

One of the strongest predictors of a person's willingness to have their contacts traced is whether they know someone with the virus, even if that person isn't sick. "If you know somebody in your social circle who has tested positive for COVID-19, you're much more willing to share your data," says Kent. "And as the pandemic continues on, there will be a higher percentage of the population that knows somebody who has tested positive." Parks found that about 7% of their respondents knew someone with the virus in March, a number which rose to 35% of respondents by May.

From the article "Apparently you'll share your data to stop coronavirus" by Brian Cooley.

Previously In The News

Why is privacy-minded Apple putting its new TV app on smart TVs notorious for spying on users?

That's not just conjecture. A report by Parks Associates stated that almost half of smart TV owners also used a streaming media player, and that they used their media player much more frequently than...

Why HBO Max, Peacock Are Deadlocked in Talks With Roku and Amazon

The OTT platforms’ leverage is real. Both say they have more than 40 million active accounts (and growing). “Amazon and Roku are beginning to play hardball with a lot of these services,” says Parks As...

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi Is Ready to Launch, but Will Viewers Bite?

There’s no doubt people will check out Quibi, particularly with stay-at-home directives set to run through the end of April. “America right now is a captive audience starved for something to do,” says...

Apple's home head leaves, and new products launch, on HomeKit Insider

We also spent some time discussing a new Parks Associates study that surveyed 10,000 homes to identify the growth in smart home tech. Doorbells and locks were the fastest growing category this year, w...