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

More than 200 OTT services active in the U.S. market, research group says

Illustrating the insurgent competitive pressure being faced by incumbent pay TV operators, Parks Associates released a report today suggesting that there are more than 200 OTT services currently opera...

Streaming wars will force media companies to choose between pricey subscriptions and ads

Parks Associates, a research firm that tracks the connected home, found in a recent survey that one-third of U.S. broadband households use a free, ad-based streaming service, up from 24% a year earlie...

Hulu adds live TV and new UI support for Samsung smart TVs

In the meantime, the service can rest assured of its popularity in the U.S. New numbers from Parks Associates put Hulu as the third most popular U.S. SVOD, behind Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Altho...

Parks: Over one-half of OTT households subscribe to multiple streaming services

Video subscribers’ appetite for OTT video continues to climb, with more households purchasing more than one service. New research from Parks Associates revealed that over 50% of U.S. OTT subscripti...