Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Network Security: Hacking Fears Could Scare Consumers Away from Smart-Home Devices

The rising occurrence of high-profile security hacks and privacy breaches, as well as being personally victimized, are contributing to ever-increasing consumer anxiety about smart home devices and platforms, according to new research.

Parks Associates’ latest quarterly survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households found that almost half of consumers rank data security and privacy issues as their greatest concerns about connecting devices to the Internet, compared to other problems they may encounter, such as with tech support. Forty percent of the respondents say they have experienced a privacy or security problem with a connected device in the past year, most commonly viruses and malware.

“Our most recent data reveals that almost half of U.S. broadband households are ‘very concerned’ [rating 6-7 on a 7-point scale] about hackers getting control of connected devices and hackers getting access to data from the device,” says Parks Associates Research Analyst Brad Russell. “In tracing trending changes on these consumer attitudes from 2014 to 2016, we find that while the total share of consumers who are ‘concerned’ [rating 5-7] has not appreciably changed, the share of those that are ‘very concerned’ has grown by 6% to 7%. Similarly, the share of consumers who are ‘not concerned [rating 1-3] has shrunk by about half.”

From the article "Network Security: Hacking Fears Could Scare Consumers Away from Smart-Home Devices" by Rodney Bosch.

Previously In The News

Google's Nest Struggles Could Set Back The IoT Movement

The smart home devices sold by Google's home automation subsidiary, Nest, represent just a small fraction of the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) market. However, Nest has become one of the most re...

Roku is the Most Owned Set-Top Box with Cord Cutters, But the Apple TV & Fire TV See Strong Growth

However, this is a noticeable change from our summer 2016 survey that showed Roku with over 70% of the market share, the Fire TV at just over 33%, and the Apple TV at just 18%. (Note: We did allow our...

37% Of Hulu Subs Signed Up Through App

A new Parks Associates whitepaper, sponsored by Ooyala, reveals the importance of connected device apps for the monetization of video services as they are now the second most used method for consumers...

Challenges For Developers In The Internet Of Things Era

Indeed, in a recent survey carried out by industry analysis provider Parks Associates, two thirds of consumers who were considering switching mobile providers rated managed access to WiFi as part of t...