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...

Managing for the Optimized Content Bundle

According to Parks Associates, over a quarter of millennials subscribe to three or more over-the-top video services, and more than half use at least two. However, a separate U.S. survey from Vanson Bo...

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...

5% of Broadband Users Likely to Cut the Cord in the Next 12 Months

"Many are satisfied with their current provider overall, but these subscribers are aware of the other options available to them and could become actual cord-cutters if their current service does not c...