Could smart home technology ownership double over the next year to 30 million households? August Home and Xfinity Home have a new report that says it could.
The two companies recently released results of a survey they commissioned that indicates growing consumer interest and enthusiasm in smart security and smart home technology. “The Safe and Smart Home: Security in the Smart Home Era” study explored what motivates adoption, what features are most compelling, as well as how consumers plan to use smart home technology. NextMarket Insights conducted the online survey among 1,293 U.S. consumers last month.
Nearly 18 percent of survey respondents said they’d likely buy a new smart home product over the next 12 months, including 56 percent of those who already have installed at least one smart home product in their home. In addition, 12 percent of those without smart home technology said they were planning on buying a smart home product in the next 12 months, which would effectively double smart home ownership over the next year to 30 million households, according to the report.
“The smart home industry is still a young market,” Michael Wolf, chief analyst for NextMarket Insights, says. “But consumer awareness is growing rapidly as new offerings with clear value come to market. This research reinforces our belief that product categories which provide tangible help in meeting consumer needs such as family safety or work-life balance will experience significant growth in end user adoption over the next five years.”
Not surprisingly, respondents name family safety as the biggest motivator (63 percent). But other perks like being able to turn on lights after dark (54 percent) and the ability to provide remote access to service providers (22 percent) also had the people surveyed interested.
The report notes that security-adopting consumers and non-security consumers are interested in the potential of smart home security. Connected cameras (40 percent), video doorbells (26 percent), connected light bulbs (19 percent) and smart locks (13 percent), and all ranked high on security-adopting consumers’ wish lists. However, home security adopters continue to value traditional features such as 24/7 call center monitoring, according to the report.