Research conducted by Parks Associates in 2014 and 2015 found that roughly 25% of all U.S. broadband households (81% of all U.S. households in mid-2015) have some active security system.
While the rate may seem stagnant, the numbers are not. First, the U.S. gains more households every year. Second, broadband adoption continues to increase. Consequently the topline numbers go up – and so do the millions of households reporting the presence of any active security system. Even more impressive is the percentage of households with a security system that report having professional monitoring (see Figure 1 in the following image gallery).
While the percentage of broadband households with any security system has remained steady, the percentage of those households reporting having professional monitoring increased steadily quarter-over-quarter in 2014 and into 2015. The rate of adopting professional monitoring for security systems is increasing faster than the rate of adopting security systems. Parks Associates forecasts this will continue through 2016. This is good news for professional security dealers; it also begs the question, “Why is this happening?”
Figure 2 in the accompanying image gallery illustrates professionally monitored security as one channel – and currently the major channel – for smart home controllers. About 10% of U.S. broadband homes were forecast to have a smart home controller by the end of 2015. Of those households, 6% (or close to 60% of all smart home controllers in broadband housing) will be in housing that also has a security system. Parks Associates forecasts that pattern to continue through 2016.
Click through the image gallery for more related insights.
