U.S. Parental Control Software Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Operating System (Windows, Android, iOS & OS X, and Cross-Platform & Others), By Deployment (On-premise and Cloud), By Application (Residential and Educational Institutes), and Country Forecast, 2022-2029

The U.S. parental control software market size was valued at USD 174.9 million in 2021. The market is projected to grow from USD 190.6 million in 2022 to USD 360.7 million by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecast period. The global COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented and staggering, with parental control software experiencing higher-than-anticipated demand across the U.S. compared to pre-pandemic levels. Based on our analysis, the U.S. market exhibited a growth of 7.6% in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Microsoft Family Safety, AT&T Secure Family App, Net Nanny Family Protection Pass, Google Family Link, Smith Micro SafePath, Norton Family, and more are the software considered in the scope.

Parental control software is a tool that assists parents in monitoring online activities of kids along with filtering websites and content, limiting online time, and viewing their browsing history and communications. Various education institutes have included e-learning and distance learning courses for remote learning. Similarly, with rising cyber threats to the kids in the U.S., parents are becoming more aware regarding monitoring and filtering harmful websites on kids’ devices. Key players in the market are offering innovative solutions to provide more activity monitoring tools. For instance, in April 2021, Microsoft Corporation introduced its new kid's web browser, Microsoft Edge Kids Mode. It offers a protected web environment and filters inappropriate content.

COVID-19 IMPACT

Rapid Shift on Online Learning Platforms to Boost Parental Control Software Demand Amid Pandemic

The spread of the novel coronavirus is expected not to just have substantial economic consequences but also a devastating impact on the U.S. education infrastructure. As per the Education Week data, about 55 million children in the U.S. were impacted owing to the closure of schools and universities in 2020. Similarly, worldwide the COVID-19 pandemic has forced over 1.6 billion children and youth out of school in 161 countries as stated by the World Bank report. With the severe impact of the pandemic on children’s education, parents were focused on providing an effective substitute to the traditional learning system. This surged the online learning and distance learning demand. 

Similarly, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, schools and other education institutes have turned to digital technologies to keep teaching-learning activities going. Several schools have invested heavily in new platforms to offer online learning to students. The teachers and parents together ensured the coordination of the child’s lesson plans throughout the pandemic years 2020 and 2021. Further, the national lockdown has sent a warning to schools that they must change tactics quickly to stay connected with the students and continue with the teaching processes. To reduce the pandemic impact on children’s education in the U.S., about 40% of K-12 students were provided with an in-person learning environment using advanced technologies. Similarly, by the end of 2020, the government and schools in the U.S. were able to provide access to education to almost 98% of students through various platforms.

LATEST TRENDS

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Growing Trend of E-learning to Propel Market Growth

Over the past decade, online learning has grown significantly as the internet and schooling have merged to provide users with the ability to learn new skills. The advancements in smartphones, smart devices, educational content, upgraded internet services, and more fueled the adoption of e-learning. Also, the students and parents prefer online learning as it helps in offering an in-home learning experience and reduces the traveling time of kids and parents. Online learning offers 40% to 60% less time investment than the traditional learning system.

As per the U.S. Department of Education, during 2017-2019, 21% of the country’s public schools were offering at least one entirely online course. With the rapid and widespread adoption of online learning, parents are turning to technology to help their children better understand interactive content and smartphone use. Consequently, the adoption of the software offering kids online activity monitoring capabilities is expected to rise significantly in the near future across the united states. This is expected to boost the U.S. parental control software market share.

DRIVING FACTORS

Risks Associated with Excessive Use of Social Media to Boost Market Growth

The proportion of children who own smartphones has increased exponentially over the past years. Kids are constantly using social media platforms to find out facts about different disciplines, play video games, and do a variety of other things. Some of the material available online may not be trustworthy or secure, thus, necessitating the need for parents to closely track their children's online activities. As per the survey, more than 53% of U.S. children under 8 years have access to smartphones and 83% of teenagers own a smartphone.

As per the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Co. survey, U.S. children aged 8 to 12 spent an average of four to six hours per day online while children aged 13 to 18 spent around seven and a half hours a day. The majority of time spent online is spent viewing videos or playing online games. Thus, the need to control internet activity and protect children from cyberbullying has encouraged parents to adopt the parental control software. This is likely to drive the U.S. parental control software market growth.

RESTRAINING FACTORS

Issues Related to Children’s Privacy to Hamper Market Growth

While monitoring children's online conversations is a good way to keep them secure, it's also a breach of privacy that can damage parents’ relationships with them as they grow older. Excessive parental control can also lead to children creating false identities on gaming and social media platforms that their parents can't reach. This can lead to even more complications in the future and might impact the kid's trust in their parents. Further, there is some percent of parents in the U.S. who are in favor of providing full privacy to their kids on the online platform. This is expected to hamper the market expansion in the U.S.

SEGMENTATION

By Operating System Analysis

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Growing Adoption of Apple Products to Fuel iOS and OS X Demand

On the basis of operating system, the market has been categorized into Windows, Android, iOS & OS X, and cross-platform & others.

iOS & OS X operating systems dominate with the maximum share in smartphone adoption. As the country has maximum iOS users, the demand for iOS-compatible parental control software is expected to grow during the forecast period. As per the study of Blue Matrix in 2022, the number of teens using iPhones in the U.S. is around 80% and is expected to grow in the coming years.

Android is likely to witness steady growth during the forecast period due to the children's increasing time spent on smartphones. Similarly, various players are offering cross-platform & others software to easily monitor the platform on all the home devices, thus surging cross-platform & others software demand.

By Deployment Analysis

Enhanced User Experience to Surge Cloud-based Software Demand

Based on deployment, the market has been bifurcated into on-premise and cloud.

Cloud-based parental control software to gain significant demand as the tools are hosted remotely on the vendor’s server with higher stability. The cloud-based software enhances user experience as it offers flexible and scalable capabilities.

On-premise to showcase slow growth owing to the increasing cost of new updates, training, and support.

By Application Analysis

Rising Online Security Concerns Has Increased the Adoption of Software Among Residential Users

By application, the market is divided into residential and educational institutes.

Residential is expected to gain maximum segment share during the forecast period. The rapid shift amongst the U.S. kids and teens on smart devices amid pandemic has further fueled the adoption of the software in residential users.

The educational institutes segment is expected to showcase a rapid growth rate during the forecast period owing to the increased risk of gaining access to inappropriate content. The U.S. schools adopt device-based learning for kids and teens. This has fueled the need for a secured educational online environment for children.

REGIONAL INSIGHTS

The U.S. market growth is attributed to growing children’s interaction through multimedia and constantly changing technologies. Further, as most schools have included computers, laptops, and tablets into their curriculum, this has urged the need to install monitoring tools to filter content and restrict sites. The U.S. is an early adopter of advanced technologies and software, including parental control software.

As per the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the kids in the U.S. are spending 4 to 6 hours a day on screen, and teens spend up to 9 hours per day. The increasing screen time for studies and entertainment has adverse effects on children’s minds, thus limiting and monitoring the exposure has become essential for parents.

KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

Focus on Global Expansion through Strategic Partnership & Collaboration to Boost Market Share

The major players in the market are expanding their business by collaborating and partnering with network providers, smartphone and gadget manufacturers, telecom providers, and Wi-Fi router enablers, among others. The companies aim to offer advanced parental control solutions to boost a safer and healthy online learning environment for kids. Besides, the market players are highly focused on developing new features and products to strengthen their market position.

February 2022 – Bark Technologies, Inc. announced its new offering of parental control solutions in Guam, U.S., in collaboration with GTA. Under Bark Jr., the company is offering screen management and web filtering, and it also offers Bark Premium for location sharing and monitoring activities across the web and 30 more social media platforms.

March 2021 – Smith Micro Software, based in Pennsylvania, announced the acquisition of Avast’s business of parental control software-as-a-service. The company aims to expand its parental control product portfolio carriers, offering screen time management, location, content filtering, and more capabilities.

List of the Key Companies Profiled:

• Alphabet Inc. (Google LLC) (U.S.)


• Net Nanny Inc. (U.S.)


• AT&T Inc. (U.S.)


• Mobicip, LLC (U.S.)


• McAfee, LLC (U.S.)


• Microsoft Corporation (U.S.)


• SafeDNS, Inc. (U.S.)


• NortonLifeLock Inc. (U.S.)


• Smith Micro Software, Inc. (U.S.)


• Bark Technologies, Inc. (U.S.)

KEY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS:

• March 2022 – Smith Micro Software, Inc. announced a partnership with the U.S. based Tier 1 wireless carrier to deploy Smith Micro’s SafePath 7 platform. Through this, the companies aim to expand their product reach and offer improved digital family safety and location services.


• March 2021 – Google LLC announced the launch of Google+ TV with parental control features for separate kids accounts in the U.S. The separate kids account is available on Chromecast and other Google TV devices. The company will launch the same feature in other countries in the next few months.


• February 2021 – Experian launched the anti-fraud platform. This platform assists businesses and its customers in preventing fraudsters from unsophisticated cyber-attacks and further help businesses in dealing with the rapid surge in demand for digital services.


• December 2020 – Qustodio LLC announced a partnership with Bluegrass Cellular to expand parental control digital safety and wellbeing platform for Kentucky, U.S. Through this partnership, the company expanded and entered the U.S. market.


• April 2020 – California-based smart home services provider, Plume, announced a partnership with ADTRAN, Inc., a network solution provider, to improve security of personal home networks. Through this collaboration, the companies offered parental control software, AI security, and Wifi motion detection to customers. 

REPORT COVERAGE

An Infographic Representation of U.S. Parental Control Software Market

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The research report analyses the market across the country to offer a better understanding of the user. Furthermore, the report provides insights into the latest industry and market trends and analyzes technologies deployed at a rapid pace at the country level. It further highlights some of the growth-stimulating factors and restraints, helping the reader gain in-depth knowledge about the market.

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