Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

In A Connected World, Why Aren't Smart TVs Very Clever?

Turns out that smart TVs can be, well, pretty dumb. Even moderately priced sets can now connect to the Internet and run Netflix and other apps -- that's the "smart" part. Yet many people are ignoring the built-in features and turning to Apple TV, Roku and other stand-alone streaming devices that often do a better job.

In an August report, the NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren't actually connected to the Internet. That's down from about half two years earlier, but still not good. Researchers at Parks Associates found that even as more Americans are using smart TV functions, streaming device usage has grown even faster.

"If you're a streaming media box (maker), you've got much more ability to push new features out into the market at an affordable price," says Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates' director of research. "They're very stiff competition for smart TVs."

From the article "In A Connected World, Why Aren't Smart TVs Very Clever?" by Anick Jesdanun and Ryan Nakashima.

Previously In The News

Percentage Of TV Antenna Households Doubles

The percentage of U.S. homes getting live TV channels through antenna has nearly doubled since 2013, to 15 percent of homes in 2016, according to Parks & Associates. Several factors contributed to the...

It's Really Hard to Make Money With Virtual Reality Games

Considering the high profile of the launch we're talking about 2,300 is an awfully low number, even factoring in some of the criticisms of Light Repair Team #4 and its sparse marketing. That speaks to...

The Best Wearable Fitness Tech We Saw At CES 2017

It’s one of the biggest arms races of the 21st century—literally. Once the preserve of hardcore fitness junkies, the activity tracker industry has exploded into the mainstream and is now set to surpas...

Study: IoT Users May Become Comfortable With Sharing Device Data, For A Price

A Parks Associates study has found that over a quarter of respondents would become more comfortable sharing their data if their devices would "automatically register for warranties and check warranty...