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

Digital health care: Better than the doctor's office?

Oh, how times have changed. Over this past year of COVID-19 lockdowns, telehealth saw usage by US broadband households jump from 15% to 41% between the second quarter of 2019 and the same period in 20...

Is Streaming Actually Cheaper Than Cable? We Do the Math

With its contracts and fees, cable TV is nowhere near cheap. Though streaming services are the new norm, paying for multiple subscriptions -- or even a live TV streaming service like DirecTV Stream --...

Cord nevers don't know what they're missing, and pay TV needs to show them, says Parks' Sappington

Brett Sappington, senior director of research at Parks Associates, kicked off the first annual Pay TV Show detailing some of the emerging challenges and opportunities for the pay TV space. He broke...

vMVPD market shakeout won’t happen in 2018, analysts say

The group, however, didn’t bite, forming a consensus that these are the early days for the virtual MVPD industry. Despite rampant competition for subscribers, high programming costs and loss-leader pr...