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

Building the Future of Smart Home Security > Engineers must invent new technology to enhance security products' abilities

It’s nearly impossible to find a household today that doesn’t have at least one connected smart home device installed. From video doorbells to robot vacuums, automated lighting, and voice assistants,...

How many video devices do you have? About seven, survey finds

According to Parks Associates, nearly 40 percent of U.S. broadband households are watching multiple streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu on those devices. With high numbers of str...

Report: Streaming TV Churn Drops 48% Over Two Years, Hits Lowest Point in History

According to a recent report from research firm Parks Associates, services that stream television channels via the internet — known as virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) — ha...

Study: IoT Users May Become Comfortable With Sharing Device Data, For A Price

A Parks Associates study has found that over a quarter of respondents would become more comfortable sharing their data if their devices would "automatically register for warranties and check warranty...