Consumers More Aware of ADT, AT&T Than Other Smart Home Service Providers, CEA, Parks Survey Finds

Some 21 million smart home devices will be sold this year, and ADT and AT&T are the best known among consumers as service providers for such products, said a white paper released Friday from CEA and Parks Associates. The number of total devices will grow to 25 million next year, 30 million in 2016 and 36 million in 2017, the report said. Fueling the growth is the increased penetration of broadband in homes, said the white paper, predicting that by the end of this year, 79 percent of U.S. households will be connected to the Internet, and 80 percent of those will have a working home network. Broadband connectivity has led to a new generation of smart home devices -- born out of networked security systems taking advantage of broadband for surveillance purposes -- and that's changing how systems and devices are managed in the home, it said. No smart home device in a Parks consumer survey of 10,000 broadband households claimed more than 6 percent ownership, it said. Low awareness has been an obstacle to broader acceptance of smart home products, Parks said. Security companies have provided some awareness, and more has come from the “cool factor” of products like Nest’s Thermostat, it said. Among respondents who headed a household, roughly one in 10 was aware of smart home products or services, and fewer knew where to buy them, it said. Brand awareness among those surveyed was low, and not accurate. Respondents were asked to cite three manufacturers of smart home products, and 5 percent of respondents named Apple, which has not yet delivered product to the market. Nest followed Apple with 3 percent. ADT and AT&T ranked first and second with 6-7 percent awareness as smart home product manufacturers. When asked about service providers, 16 percent of respondents named ADT and AT&T, Parks said. For the most part, manufacturers in the product area “haven’t yet made a significant mark,” Parks said.