Parks Associates: 55% of U.S. broadband households find it appealing to control entertainment and smart home devices through voice commands

DALLAS, TX--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2017) - New research from Parks Associates shows that more than half (55%) of U.S. broadband households want to use voice to control their entertainment and smart home devices. The IoT research firm will address the impact of new entertainment experiences and crossover opportunities with other IoT systems in the home at the 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference on May 23-25, 2017, in San Francisco. The conference examines the use cases and emerging business models that will successfully engage consumers and grow revenues in the converging IoT industries, including smart home, connected entertainment, and mobile ecosystems.

"Many of the consumers who own or intend to purchase a smart home device want these smart home capabilities accessible through their entertainment devices," said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates. "Consumers don't see connected entertainment, security, and control devices as discrete, siloed product areas. They expect connected products to work together. Many of the consumers who own smart light bulbs, thermostats, smoke detectors, and garage door openers find it appealing to control such devices through their entertainment systems, including automated voice assistant products like the Amazon Echo and Google Home."

360 View: Residential Security & Smart Home also notes that privacy continues to be important to consumers for connected entertainment and smart home devices, with two-thirds of smart product owners rating safety and security notifications appealing. However, their concerns lessen if they are given greater control over their personal data. Just 17% of U.S. broadband households have privacy concerns about smart home devices if they have greater control over their personal data.

"Consumer concerns about hackers shouldn't inhibit market growth," said Glenn Hower, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. "Although privacy concerns are widespread, providing simple, configurable, consumer-controlled rules for data use will go a long way to mitigate privacy concerns and provide consumers with peace of mind."

Parks Associates and industry-leading executives will address the connected entertainment and smart home industries with multiple sessions at this year's CONNECTIONS™ Conference.

"The Impact of New Entertainment Experiences," at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24, features Elisabetta Romano, VP & Head of Media Solutions, Ericsson. The session examines the trends in connected entertainment and analyzes how the landscape and business of entertainment will change for service providers, technology vendors, product makers, content creators, and app developers.

"Wi-Fi, Connectivity, and High-Speed Data in the Connected Home," at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 25, looks at opportunities to expand entertainment, broadband, and smart home offerings by leveraging each node in the home's network. Speakers also discuss strategies to build value for the growing number of connections in the home. Speakers for this session include the following:

• Rob Conant, CEO, Cirrent
• Justin Doucette, Senior Director, Product Management, Linksys & Wemo, Belkin International

Parks Associates will also host two pre-show workshops on May 23, led by the firm's senior IoT analysts, on the following topics:

• Smart Home and IoT: Growth, Consumer Trends
• Connected Health and IoT: Technology Innovators and Disruptions

CONNECTIONS™ sponsors include Intel Corporation, Vivint Smart Home, Asurion, Greenwave Systems, Assurant Solutions, Alarm.com, Centercode, ROC-Connect, Support.com, ULE Alliance, Verisk, Arrayent, Audio Analytic, Ayla Networks, Cirrent, EVRYTHNG, mnubo, OneEvent Technologies, Whisker Labs, Z-Wave, HomeAdvisor, Nortek Security & Control, Tyco, leakSMART™, and MivaTek.

To register for the 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™ conference and a pre-show workshop, visit http://bit.ly/CONNUSregistration. To schedule an interview with an analyst or request specific research, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720.987.6614.

About CONNECTIONS™
Parks Associates' 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference will take place May 23-25 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in San Francisco. CONNECTIONS™ is the premier connected home event hosting over 700 executives from the connected entertainment, IoT, and smart home industries. The event provides a day of pre-show research workshops highlighting Parks Associates' consumer data and analysis and two days of conference sessions focused on technology adoption and trends, forecasts for new products and services, evaluation of new business strategies, and recommendations about technology innovations, strategic partnerships, monetization opportunities, and value-added services.

The event provides executive networking opportunities and insights from industry leaders on entertainment, mobile, and smart home market segments. Throughout the event, sponsors offer tabletop demos during networking events, spotlighting new technology innovations and services.

For more information, contact sales@parksassociates.com, call 972-490-1113, visit www.connectionsconference.com.