Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

How Many Consumers Actually Have VR Headsets?

Parks Associates released new consumer research this week showing that 2 percent of U.S. broadband households, or 2.3 million households, own a virtual reality headset. The survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households reportedly reveals that 5 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a VR headset in 2016, an increase from only 1 percent who made a purchase the year prior.

“The big change in VR for 2016 has been the availability or pending availability of VR headsets from companies such as Facebook (Oculus Rift), Google (Google Cardboard) and HTC (Vive). Sony PlayStation VR is expected to be released in October. We expect gamers to be the initial market for VR,” Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates director of research, says. “VR is an immersive experience, and more is better for gamers – more immersion, better sound, better graphics, and more players. The mass market is more likely to adopt mobile VR, which will be less expensive and uses a tool – the smartphone – that the majority of U.S. consumers own.”

From the article "How Many Consumers Actually Have VR Headsets?" by Laura Hamilton.

Previously In The News

'Alexa, multiply': Voice assistants show huge growth

Usage of voice-activated assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant remains relatively low. But it is growing at an impressive rate. In fourth quarter of last year, 12 percent of U.S. b...

Video advertising’s bright future and what you should be doing now

But that line is becoming more blurred. We are seeing a trend for digital channels becoming more like broadcast TV. People are consuming more long-form content online which has opened up new opportuni...

NAB Puts The Future Focus On OTT In Vegas

In other OTT highlights Parks Associates will cover their latest research in “Adoption, Churn, and the Risky Lives of OTT Video Services;” while panel “Mobile Video’s Explosion: Personalized TV Has Ar...

Weekly Music Publishing Update 2.17.17: Chance The Rapper, Amazon, Anghami, Streaming Partnership & More

According to a report published by Parks Associates, there is a dark horse in the streaming market: Amazon Prime Music. The company's senior analyst says, "Nearly one-half of streaming music subscribe...