New Report Explores Demand for VR

Parks Associates says that 9 percent of U.S. broadband homes will buy a VR headset within the next year.

Parks Associates forecasts that about 24 million households worldwide will own at least one virtual reality device by year-end 2017 and 77 million households by 2021.

Demand is largely being led by gamers—playing video games is the leading planned activity for those looking to buy a VR headset. Next is watching entertainment videos and virtual tours or travel, followed by watching live events, social interaction, educational purposes and shopping. Samsung’s Gear VR is the leading headset in terms of market share ahead of Sony’s PlayStation VR.

The Virtual Reality: Disrupting the Entertainment Experience report says that purchase intentions have nearly doubled since early 2016, when only 5 percent planned to purchase a VR headset.

“The budding virtual reality market is just in its infancy,” said Hunter Sappington, researcher at Parks Associates. “VR has the potential to breathe new life into important CE device categories that have reached saturation, but challenges are hindering wider adoption. Familiarity is low, with fewer than 13 percent of consumers having experienced VR first hand. The evolution of multiple players, each with their own approach to headset hardware, has resulted in a fragmented marketplace, which affects both content availability and future innovation. Despite these factors, the market is experiencing positive growth, with year-over-year increases in adoption and purchase intentions. The VR market will see changes over the next two to three years, with new technologies such as eye tracking and mixed reality being integrated into the evolving VR experience.”