Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Wearables Find Market With 55+ Users, Big Gains Predicted For Next Year

Parks Associates in May estimated that over 10% of the 65+ population will own a PERS -- for Personal Emergency Response System -- device by 2021, and that figure will jump to 15% for seniors 75 and over. By that year, more than 56 million Americans will be 65 and over.

That’s good growth, but still leaves a lot of elderly people who won’t be using wearables. Jennifer Kent, director of research quality and product development at Parks, earlier told Marketing Daily that the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” messaging made famous by Life Alert all the way back in 1987, has created a hard-to-shake stigma. As a result, many older people have a strong resistance to even the more subtle smartwatch versions. 

From the article "Wearables Find Market With 55+ Users, Big Gains Predicted For Next Year" by P.J. Bednarski.

Previously In The News

Comcast and Charter face a grim new reality: actual competition

“Across the nation, all sorts of internet service providers have gained two new competitors,” says Kristen Hanich, the research director for Parks Associates, referring to T-Mobile and Verizon. “They...

Lots of people are canceling HBO Now and Amazon Prime, study says

Last month, Parks Associates released new research suggesting cancellation rates for over-the-top services have held steady at about 18% for the past three years. “With OTT service penetration star...

Fox Sports app lands on Vizio smart TVs, adds Fox Weather FAST channel

As Parks Associates’ Eric Sorensen pointed out in a recent column for Fierce Video, consumers are moving to the smart TV as their device of choice for streaming video entertainment, with the firm...

To Invade Homes, Tech Is Trying to Get in Your Kitchen

Yet the so-called smart kitchen remains a tough sell. With the kitchen often a hub for families and friends, habits there can be hard to change. And many people see the kitchen and mealtimes as a have...