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VR traction over the past several years has been slower than many had anticipated. But it’s still finding small wins and is growing at a fairly healthy pace. So the question is how well it’s landing with consumers today, and are those sentiments trending in the right direction?
So we set out for answers. Working closely with Thrive Analytics, ARtillery Intelligence authored questions to be fielded through its established survey engine to more than 50,000 U.S. adults. The result is Wave 9 of the research, and a narrative report we published to unpack the results.
Known as VR Usage & Consumer Attitudes, Wave 9, it follows similar reports over the last few years. Nine waves of research now bring new insights and trend data to light. And all nine waves represent a collective six-digit sum of U.S. adults for robust longitudinal analysis.
Among the topics tackled: How is VR resonating with everyday consumers? How often are they using it? How satisfied are they? What types of experiences do they want most? How much are they willing to pay for it? And for those who aren’t interested in VR… why not?
Profiles & Personas
After exploring survey results throughout this series from both VR users and non-users, we now shift gears to look at the full sample. Specifically, how do this combined group’s survey responses signal VR’s health in the near term? Who’s likely to adopt or not adopt the technology?
We’ll start with the bad news. When asking this question directly, the most popular sentiment for near-term VR use is “unlikely,” with 42 percent of responses. That’s followed by “very unlikely” (21 percent), “neither likely nor unlikely” (21 percent), “very likely” (9 percent), and “likely” (7 percent).
But more important than these high-level adoption sentiments is granularity into the “very likely” and “likely” folks. Who are they in terms of profiles & personas? Answering that can help VR companies appeal to their interests by refining product road maps and marketing strategies.
To do this, we examined how likely adopters broke down by demographics and psychographics. This required cross-referencing the adoption-interest sentiments above with data elsewhere in the survey that reveal these users’ (non-personally-identifying) profiles and characteristics.
Purchasing Power
So what did this exercise uncover? For one, respondents aged 25-34 represent 29 percent of likely VR users but only 20 percent of the overall sample. That age group also aligns with gaming affinities while entering life stages with greater purchasing power – a good combination for VR.
Speaking of purchasing power, other groups that over-index for VR adoption include high earners. Specifically, those with incomes greater than $100K represent 21 percent of likely VR adopters but only 16 percent of the full sample. This stands to reason, given typical early-adopter personas.
Similarly, those with full-time jobs represent 76 percent of likely VR adopters but only 67 percent of the full sample. Like the above, this stands to reason, given purchasing power. Meanwhile, urban dwellers represent 50 percent of potential users but only 26 percent of the overall sample.
Stepping back, the name of the game is uncovering the biggest deltas between a given segment’s aggregate VR interest versus that of the full sample. On that measure, these findings aren’t surprising, but can still be valuable in quantifying and validating marketing assumptions.
We’ll pause there and pick things up in the next installment. Meanwhile, check out the full report for more.