BOSTON, Mass.—Smart TV ownership, which has played a central role in the growth of streaming media, continues to rise dramatically, according to Hub Entertainment Research’s fourth annual “Connected Home” study.
The study reported that three quarters (76%) of TV households say they own a smart TV, up from 70% a year ago and the majority (57%) of all TV sets are now smart sets, a proportion a quarter higher than in 2020 (45%).
That is also fueling dramatic changes in the way viewers access video. In the past, many smart TVs were operated as “dumb” sets – owners plugged them into cable boxes or external streaming devices, bypassing their built-in smart capabilities.
But in 2022, more than four in five (86%) smart TV homes regularly streamed shows through a smart TV’s built-in capability. That’s a significant increase over 2020 (75%), though a notable segment (14%, or 1 in 7) of smart TV homes aren’t yet using those sets to stream TV or movies.
Consumer’s embrace of smart TVs are part of a larger shift towards smart devices in the home.
Hub also reported that 52% of all homes own a smart speaker (Amazon Echo, Google Nest, etc.) and 48% own at least one smart home device like a smart thermostat, smart doorbell, smart lightbulb, etc.)
“Growth in smart TV viewing over the past few years has been supercharged not just by more smart TVs, but greatly increased use of smart TV apps for streaming,” said David Tice, senior consultant to Hub and co-author of the study. “It has been a long road to get a large majority of smart TV owners to use those sets for streaming. This is a theme for smart tech overall: it’s not just getting devices into homes, but how can stakeholders get consumers to use the full capabilities of smart devices?”
Hub’s “Connected Home 2022” report was based on a survey conducted among 5,204 US consumers. Interviews were conducted in February 2022 and cover consumer ownership of many types of media-related technologies. A free excerpt of the findings is available on Hub’s website.
