Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Network Security: Hacking Fears Could Scare Consumers Away from Smart-Home Devices

The rising occurrence of high-profile security hacks and privacy breaches, as well as being personally victimized, are contributing to ever-increasing consumer anxiety about smart home devices and platforms, according to new research.

Parks Associates’ latest quarterly survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households found that almost half of consumers rank data security and privacy issues as their greatest concerns about connecting devices to the Internet, compared to other problems they may encounter, such as with tech support. Forty percent of the respondents say they have experienced a privacy or security problem with a connected device in the past year, most commonly viruses and malware.

“Our most recent data reveals that almost half of U.S. broadband households are ‘very concerned’ [rating 6-7 on a 7-point scale] about hackers getting control of connected devices and hackers getting access to data from the device,” says Parks Associates Research Analyst Brad Russell. “In tracing trending changes on these consumer attitudes from 2014 to 2016, we find that while the total share of consumers who are ‘concerned’ [rating 5-7] has not appreciably changed, the share of those that are ‘very concerned’ has grown by 6% to 7%. Similarly, the share of consumers who are ‘not concerned [rating 1-3] has shrunk by about half.”

From the article "Network Security: Hacking Fears Could Scare Consumers Away from Smart-Home Devices" by Rodney Bosch.

Previously In The News

What Amazon Buying Eero Could Mean for Consumers

For consumers, Amazon owning Eero could make it easier to set up and manage the wide range of wireless devices in their homes. “A number of companies have been trying to address a very real pain po...

Google Chromecast Bests Apple TV In Sales, Researcher Says

According to a Parks Associates report, Roku was the leading video streaming device in the U.S. followed by Chromecast and Apple TV in 2014. "The research finds Roku is still the leading brand with...

Deepak Chopra Launches A Wellness App To Create 'Social Transformation'

The self-improvement industry is a promising one, accounting for more than $10 billion in annual sales. Over 40 million smartphone users in the U.S. actively use at least one wellness or fitness track...

NAB 2018 Day Two: Online video, trends in sports business, could podcasts create TV content?

“In 2018, the leading services will be competing based on original content, and companies are already shelling out millions on content creation; and that trend will continue,” Brett Sappington, senior...