PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—The holiday season was good for many of America’s living rooms, with smart TV ownership increasing in Q1 2024 to nearly 8 in 10 households as consumers replaced old TVs and embraced streaming video, according to new data from Hub Entertainment Research.
Hub Entertainment Research’s annual “Connected Home” study found that 62% of TV households are now streaming weekly on smart TVs, up significantly from 47% in 2021.
While separate streaming media player devices like Roku and FireTV are in more than half of homes, growth has stalled compared to all-in-one smart TVs that provide seamless integration for viewers, the researchers noted.
In addition, the growth of easy-to-install, affordable sound bars are improving the external sound systems for many while they otherwise are hesitant to upgrade to 4K or 8K TV sets.
The study also noted that Apple made a big splash with headset debut, but the high price keeps it out of reach for most. With reportedly 200K headsets sold upon launch, Apple established solid awareness (49%) and interest (53% top 2-box) in the $3,500 device. However, intent to purchase remains low and the most popular use case for headsets still lies in gaming, with room to grow for more traditional TV and movie viewing.
“With more affordable and higher quality TVs available, it’s no surprise that people are continuing to upgrade their home theaters to better Smart TVs that make watching favorite streaming content easy,” says Jason Platt Zolov, consultant to Hub and study co-author. “The exciting debut of the Apple Vision Pro headset is a big step toward making advanced headset usage more mainstream – although there is clearly room to grow in further integrating it into traditional living room behavior.”
Findings come from Hub’s 2024 “Connected Home” report, based on a survey conducted among 5,026 US consumers age 16-74. Interviews were completed in February 2024. A free excerpt of the findings is available on Hub’s website. This report is part of the “Entertainment & Tech Tracker” syndicated report series.
