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

Smart Technology for a superior customer experience

In a recent Parks Associates study, residents consistently provided higher ratings for properties that provided smart home devices versus those that didn’t. Roughly 74% of participants* rated energy s...

60% Consumers Trust Self-Monitored Home Security, Survey by Parks Associates Reveals

Recent findings from Parks Associates indicate a significant shift in consumer attitudes towards home security, with a majority now leaning towards self-monitored systems over traditional, professiona...

Cable and wireless lobbyists clash over the future of FWA

According to new numbers from Parks Associates, 66% of 5G FWA subscribers consider their plans to be set at a fair or good price, while 62% report that it is easy to contact someone for customer servi...

Hulu, Disney+ cracking down on password sharing after Netflix success: Will more streaming services follow?

Cracking down on account sharing could encourage those looking to drop a streaming service to do just that, Sarah Lee a research analyst with Parks Associates told USA Today. From the article, "Hul...