Providing market intelligence for more than 35 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

Digital Publishers Lost $41.4 Bn Due To Ad Blocking: Study

“Many content creators rely on advertising revenue to monetise video, especially as newly launched digital services seek revenue. As digital video viewership increases on all screens, use of ad-blocki...

Netflix Leads OTT Service In The US

Parks Associates has released its updated top 10 list for subscription over-the-top (OTT) video services, based on number of subscribers. Netflix retained its top position while services like Sling TV...

More than 50% US broadband households subscribe to both pay-TV, OTT video service

New consumer research from Parks Associates shows that 53 percent of US broadband households subscribe to both a pay-TV service and at least one OTT video service. According to the ‘OTT Video & TV...

Why a Disney Spinoff of ESPN Would Be a Whiff | Analysis

According to first-quarter 2022 Parks Associates consumer research, 52% of U.S. internet households have at least one Disneystreaming service in their home. Within that, “ESPN+ is the most popular and...