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

Nice Reaffirms Support for Dealers Amid DIY Surge

According to Parks Associates, nearly a third of security dealers sold DIY systems in 2023, and 10% of U.S. homes own a DIY security system. From the article, "Nice Reaffirms Support for Dealers Am...

DIY Security Systems are on the Rise, According to Parks Associates Research

Security dealers are looking to new areas to bolster their revenues, and that includes DIY systems, according to consumer technology and smart home research firm Parks Associates. According to Jaso...

YouTube TV Climbs to Fourth Among US Pay-TV Services

Landing NFL Sunday Ticket was a major factor in YouTube TV’s subscription growth, maintained Eric Sorensen, director for the streaming video tracker at Parks Associates, a market research and consulti...

To save money, Americans are considering ad-supported streaming offers

Tiers with advertising could help stem the loss of financially challenged subscribers from platforms, since according to a Parks Associates study, three out of ten American households unsubscribe from...