Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

In A Connected World, Why Aren't Smart TVs Very Clever?

Turns out that smart TVs can be, well, pretty dumb. Even moderately priced sets can now connect to the Internet and run Netflix and other apps -- that's the "smart" part. Yet many people are ignoring the built-in features and turning to Apple TV, Roku and other stand-alone streaming devices that often do a better job.

In an August report, the NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren't actually connected to the Internet. That's down from about half two years earlier, but still not good. Researchers at Parks Associates found that even as more Americans are using smart TV functions, streaming device usage has grown even faster.

"If you're a streaming media box (maker), you've got much more ability to push new features out into the market at an affordable price," says Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates' director of research. "They're very stiff competition for smart TVs."

From the article "In A Connected World, Why Aren't Smart TVs Very Clever?" by Anick Jesdanun and Ryan Nakashima.

Previously In The News

What’s next for online TV services may be ironically familiar as companies aim to simplify the viewer experience

A growing number of consumers subscribe to multiple streaming services, with those paying for three or more services doubling since 2014, according to Parks research. And people don’t want to juggle f...

Smart Speaker Use Grows

Parks Associates has announced new research showing more than one-fourth, or 28 percent, of US broadband households own a smart speaker with voice assistant. The international research firm will discu...

Report: How Consumers Stream

A new reports from Parks Associates named “Streaming Device Use and Setup in the Connected Home” takes a look at the amount of streaming entertainment that is streamed in the home, and the ways it is...

Despite YouTube Music’s Relaunch, YouTube Premium Falls Out of the Top 10 Streaming Services In the U.S.

YouTube’s latest music subscription service is failing to boost YouTube Premium in any substantial way, according to recent research. According to Parks Associates, YouTube Premium — which includes th...