Parks: Most Homes Stream Video via Game Console

24 Sep, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Nearly 30% of U.S. broadband households use a connected game console as their primary connected CE device

With 46% of all U.S. broadband homes having a video game console connected to the Internet, about 28% of them use the consumer electronics device as their primary connected devices, according to new research from Parks Associates.

Dallas-based Parks found that about 75% of broadband-connected homes use a gaming console to access non-gaming content online at least weekly, and nearly 40% access such content for more than 10 hours per week.

Notably, while the PlayStation 4 dominates sales of new-edition game consoles (e.g.. Xbox One), Parks found that both Nintendo Wii and Xbox consoles are in 35% of U.S. broadband households, while the PlayStation brand is in 27% of households, according to a survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households.

Two-thirds of U.S. homes have at least one connected CE device. Smart TVs trail gaming consoles as the second-most commonly used connected CE device. About 12% of households use a streaming media player such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV and Google Chromecast, while about 9% use a connected Blu-ray Disc player.

“Gaming consoles are the most frequently used connected CE device because of their high adoption rates — of the broadband households that have only one connected CE device, nearly 60% have a game console,” Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks, said in a statement. “As the non-gaming capabilities of consoles have expanded, so too has the potential for consoles to become an entertainment platform for online content such as video, music, and apps.”

Kraus said packaged-media games remain the core adoption driver for console sales, but younger console owners and those with children in the home are heavier users of online, non-gaming content.

“While 62% of all broadband households have a gaming console, more than 80% of households with children in the home have the device,” she said.

 

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