Report: Residential security monitoring revenue to exceed $15B in 2020

According to a new report from Parks Associates, total professional monitoring revenue for the residential security sector in the U.S. will top $15 billion in 2020 with smart home services accounting for just over $1 billion.

"The number of connected devices continues to expand year-over-year, and 2019 concluded on a particularly strong note for the security industry," said Brad Russell, Research Director, Connected Home, Parks Associates, said in a statement. "Security system adoption reached one-third of all US broadband households at the end of the year. Consumers now have an average of 11.4 connected devices in their homes, which opens multiple opportunities to extend monitoring services as well as different varieties of both professional monitoring and MIY (monitor-it-yourself)."

The research firm noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic fallout will create a more challenging landscape for the industry throughout the rest of the year as consumers look to cut back on household spending. However, Parks Associates said that their own surveys show that consumers also value safety, security and economic benefits of monitoring services, which security companies can build off of moving forward.

"Central monitoring is a high-margin business, and many stations have excess monitoring capacity, driving the industry to expand its value proposition beyond the standard security offering," Russell added. "As more aspects of daily life get connected, and as people spend more time in the home, new opportunities emerge that cross multiple industries, including energy usage monitoring, risk mitigation from flood and fire, monitoring the health and safety of aging relatives, tracking of valuables, and appliance maintenance monitoring."

For more information about Parks Associates new report, “IoT: Extending Professional Monitoring for New Revenue,” click here.