An estimated 119 million connected devices, including the TV, delivering broadband Internet to TVs in U.S. homes will be in use by 2015, according to a new report from global information company The NPD Group.
The report, "The Connected Intelligence Connected Home Forecast Report," estimates streaming media players will see the highest growth in installed units by 2015, followed by connected TVs, connected Blu-ray disc players and connected video game consoles.
The 2015 total represents a 51 percent increase from the 78.5 million Internet-connected devices in use today.
“The battle in living rooms across the U.S. isn’t only between people deciding what to watch, it’s between the devices vying to get content onto the screen,” said John Buffone, director of the device practice of Connected Intelligence.
“Consumers have a lot of hardware options, on average 1.5 Internet devices per connected TV. When it comes to watching streamed content, " he said, "TV viewers have to choose between the unique set of applications, user interface, and other characteristics offered by each device.”
While connected video game consoles are projected to see the lowest percent growth in installed units, they will remain the primary device delivering Internet to the TV. By 2015 the number of installed Internet-connected video game consoles is projected to increase 22 percent as consumers begin to swap out their existing consoles for next-generation consoles that rely heavily on connectivity.
The NPD’s "2013 Online Gaming Study" finds that connected game consoles are used for more than gaming. Among those using their consoles for gaming, the report quantified a variety of nongaming activities.
The activity with the highest rating among PS3 users was watching a DVD (34 percent) followed by watching a Blu-ray disc (30 percent). Users of the Xbox 360 utilize the device for watching YouTube (24 percent) and watching DVDs (23 percent), while Wii users' highest nongaming activity was to stream a movie through Netflix (21 percent).
