Providing market intelligence for more than 35 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

YouTube TV goes live in Google's biggest swipe at Comcast yet

The name YouTube alone carries weight as a signifier of people’s viewing habits migrating online. And for networks taking part in YouTube TV’s launch, that could make coming aboard the service seem li...

What percentage of people pay after free Netflix trial ends?

Almost one out of three people who use a free trial to try out a streaming video service end up subscribing, researcher Parks Associates said Monday. That "sizeable portion" of trial users dwarfs the...

Most Broadband Homes Have Pay-TV and OTT Subscriptions

More than half of all U.S. homes with broadband subscribe to both a pay-TV service and at least one over-the-top video service, according to a new study by Parks Associates. In its OTT Video & TV E...

Why Steve Jobs' Grand Vision for a Breakthrough Apple Product Remains Unfulfilled

While the HomePod is new and the actual speaker appears to be of a much higher fidelity than its rivals, it's not a game-changer. "Apple is in a position that they haven't often been in over the pa...