North America Parental Control Software Market – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2029

North America Parental Control Software Market, By Device Type (Smart Phones, Computers and Video Games, Tablets, Digital Television, and Others), Deployment (On-Premise and Cloud), Pricing (Free, Basic, Premium, and Others), Function (Time Management, Gaming, App Management, Web Access, Program-Specific Controls, Cyber Security, and Others), Operating System (Android, IOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, and Others), End User (Educational Institutes, Residential, and Commercial) – Industry Trends And Forecast To 2029

Market Analysis and Size

Earlier parental controls were utilized for content filters, channel blockers and other cable television. But as the time evolves, utilization of internet amongst children has been increased which has led to the usage of parental control over internet for mainly for site blocking and screen time setting. The parental control software includes:

• Time limits: This helps in setting a particular time limit to avoid continuous log in at multiple times of the day
• Game content: Parents can block the gaming site depending upon the children age and time limit
• Web Access: Website usage or access can be restricted for kids by tracking it during file transfer 
• Program-Specific Controls: This avoids the operation control over specific programs on the computer

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the North America parental control software market is expected to reach the value of USD 2,693.33 million by 2029.

Market Definition

Parental controls software enables parents to set internet usage control for their children. This prevents children from accessing inappropriate online content via smartphones, tablets and computers among others.  Parental controls software is located on Vista's control panel from where a user can access an account and can monitor their children’s activity or behavior. This helps to create a customized checklist to set parental controls on each device, especially for family users. There are various types of parental control such as network level, device level, and application controls. It is mainly used in homes, schools, and commercial areas.

Parental Control Software Market Dynamics

Drivers

• Growing penetration of personal device access for kids

A smart electronic device is an electronic gadget that can share and interact with its user and other smart devices. In 2020, 61% of people in the North America population own a smart device. In recent times smart phones and tablets have gained immense popularity among consumers and have become an integral part of human lifestyle including kids.

According to a report published by Oberlo in 2021,

• Smartphone usage is expected to continue to rise in the coming years, breaching 7 billion by 2024 & rising further to 7.5 billion by 2026
• There are over 911 million smartphone users in China alone followed by India with 439 million, the U.S. with 270 million, and others

Thereby with the growing adoption of smart phone among kids the adoption of parental control apps/software also will be increasing, this can be a driving factor which is expected to hoist the growth of the North America parental control software market, as this software is very essential in order to protect kids.   

• Increase in social media usage and exposure to internet content among children

Social media platforms are used by children for sharing media content and social networking. These social platforms include WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Viber, Snapchat, and Skype. These social media site requires personal data for creating an online profile. This can be harmful to the children, due to increasing cases of cybercrime, social media addiction, and health issues like sleep disorder, and anxiety.

For instance

• As stated by Guardian News & Media Limited, interview research is drawn with almost 11000 children who are 14-year-olds. This research found that 2 out of 5 girls are on social media for approximately 3 hours a day, In which more than 3 girls are witnessed online harassment, as well as half of the affected girls, are suffering from disrupted sleep due to excessive usage of social media.

Thus the increasing usage of social media exposes children to too much-targeted marketing and advertising, and breach of personal information like phone number, location, and date of birth and among other. Therefore the increasing usage of social media recognizes the need for parental control software, which helps to fuel the growth of the parental control software market.

Restraint/Challenge

• Cyber security and threat issues in parental control software

Due to the COVID-19, cybercrime and cybersecurity issues have increased by 600%. Flaws in network or software security is a weakness that is exploited by hackers to perform unauthorized actions within a system.

According to Purple Sec LLC, in 2019 mobile malware variants for mobile have increased by 54% 2019 out of which 98% of mobile malware target various smart android devices. More than 18 million mobile malware instances were detected by Symantec in the following year. Moreover, over the last year, MacOS malware has increased by 165%.

To minimize the impact of the cyber threats faced by the kids, parents are advised to use parental control software to monitor their kid’s activity. This software is effective if constructed efficiently but due to weak architectures of the software hackers tend to bypass the defences of the software, resulting in cyber-attacks, cyberbullying, and loss of personal information. Thereby never-ending cycle of cyber-threats is expected to impede parental control software market growth.

Opportunity

• Growing demand for advanced AI/ML-powered parental control apps/software

Parental control solutions are meant to provide access and control over the children’s activity carried out on digital devices or gadgets. The numerous features such as family link, screen time management, app management, and others are introduced by the parental control software or apps in past few years as well as the various platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and others are adopting and implementing the parental control solution to provide better and safer service. For instance, the latest survey by Pew Research Center conducted for the year 2018; states almost 94% of teens in the U.S. aged 13-17 have smartphone and 45% of them are constantly online. Smartphone gives access to the various social media platform, as a result, it affects their sleeping pattern as well as academic performance due to which there is major need for parental control solutions.

For instance,

• According to EY’s survey, the data accumulated from 570 companies survey, reported that the AI adoption is accelerating and is one of the common practices in all companies to help in improving the business growth
• According to McKinsey North America Institute survey, estimated that the marketing and sales function will be impacted of USD 1.4 trillion to USD 2.6 trillion only because of the adoption of artificial intelligence

Moreover, it is very clear that the adoption of AI and ML is increasing year over in all industrial sectors which are automating the working and programming procedures. Similarly, the internet, social media, and education sector have upgraded their pace with the help of such technologies which has posed many challenges to the parents to protect kids from the risks of digital technology. This is the major reason that the adoption of AI and ML technologies is expected to help to grow the parental control software market.

Post COVID-19 Impact on Parental Control Software Market

COVID-19 created a major impact on the parental control software market as almost every country has opted for the shutdown for every production facility except the ones dealing in producing the essential goods. The government has taken some strict actions such as the shutdown of production and sale of non-essential goods, blocked international trade, and many more to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The only business which is dealing in this pandemic situation is the essential services that are allowed to open and run the processes.

Recent Developments

• In April 2021, Google recently unveiled tools on its free Family Link app, to keep a check on mobile usage of teenagers by allowing them to turn off their phones. The company has extended the compatibility of the Family Link app to Chromebooks.  This development will help in make vigilance stricter and help parents curb smartphone addiction as well as limit screen time to some extent for teenagers. This will also help Google’s user base continues to grow at a significant pace, driven by new features and tools that improve engagement
• In August 2021, NortonLifeLock Inc. entered into a partnership with Avast. The main objective behind this partnership was to strengthen digital security and privacy. Moreover, it also aimed to strengthen cloud based software solution portfolio such as parental control software. This partnership helped both the companies to grow its market in terms of revenue and attract more customer

North America Parental Control Software Market Scope

The parental control software market is segmented on the basis of device type, pricing, function, deployment, operating system and end user. The growth amongst these segments will help you analyse meagre growth segments in the industries and provide the users with a valuable market overview and market insights to help them make strategic decisions for identifying core market applications. 

Device Type

• Smart phones
• Computer and Video games
• Tablets
• Digital television
• Others

On the basis of device type, the North America parental control software market is segmented into smart phones, computers and video games, tablets, digital television, and others.

Deployment

• On-premise
• Cloud

On the basis of deployment, the North America parental control software market is segmented into on premise, and cloud.

Pricing

• Free
• Basic
• Premium
• Others

On the basis of pricing, the North America parental control software market is segmented into free, basic, premium, and others.

Function

• Time management
• Gaming
• App management
• Web access
• Program-specific controls
• Cyber security
• Others

On the basis of function, the North America parental control software market is segmented into time management, gaming, app management, web access, program-specific controls, cyber security, and others.

Operating System

• Android
• IOS
• Windows
• Linux
• macOS
• Others

On the basis of operating system, the North America parental control software market is segmented into android, IOS, windows, Linux, macOS, and others.

End User

• Educational institutes
• Residential
• Commercial

On the basis of end user, the North America parental control software market is segmented into educational institutes, residential, and commercial.

Parental Control Software Market Regional Analysis/Insights

The parental control software market is analysed and market size insights and trends are provided by device type, pricing, function, deployment, operating system and end user as referenced above.

The countries covered in the Parental control software market report are U.S., Canada and Mexico in North America.

U.S. dominates the North America region owing to factors such as increasing demand for intelligent parental control software approach for digital education.

The country section of the report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in market regulation that impact the current and future trends of the market. Data points like down-stream and upstream value chain analysis, technical trends and porter's five forces analysis, case studies are some of the pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, the presence and availability of North America brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of domestic tariffs and trade routes are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.

Competitive Landscape and Parental Control Software Market Share Analysis

The parental control software market competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, North America presence, production sites and facilities, production capacities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product width and breadth, application dominance. The above data points provided are only related to the companies' focus related to parental control software market.

Some of the major players operating in the parental control software market are Avast Software s.r.o., Google, Mobile Fence, Eturi Corp., Bark, Canopy, Microsoft, SafeDNS, Inc., NortonLifeLock Inc., SentryPC, REVE Antivirus, FamilyTime, Verizon, Cisco Systems, Inc., Bitdefender, SecureTeen, RAM Antivirus, CYBERWISE, mSpy, AT&T, Webroot Inc., McAfee, LLC, AO Kaspersky Lab, Content Watch Holdings, Inc., Intego, Mobicip.LLC, Qustodio, Clean Route, REFOG among others.