Consumers aren’t using the ‘smart’ part of smart TVs
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Michelle Clancy
| 08 May 2019

Even though ownership of new connected devices is high, many who own them don’t use most of their core capabilities.

That’s according to Hub’s inaugural study on entertainment technology, Entertainment in the Connected Home, which shows that half of TV homes (47%) now have a 4K set -- but only half (55%) of those with a 4K set have ever used it to watch 4K content. The others essentially use it as a non-4K TV.

“With 4K TV sets, we see the classic case of capability leading content, similar to what was seen with high definition and 3D sets,” said David Tice, co-author of the study and an analyst at Hub. “With 8K TV sets and ‘next gen TV’ broadcast TV sets soon to debut, manufacturers must be careful that their technological ambitions don’t outstrip the ability of content creators and distributors to serve new platforms – otherwise consumers will tune innovation out.”

In a similar vein, the firm found that nearly two-thirds (68%) of TV households have a smart TV – but many of those sets (14%) aren’t connected to the internet.

Among those who have connected their smart TV, 69% use it to watch streaming content at least weekly; but a quarter (23%) stream through their smart TV only occasionally and 8% never do at all.

Meanwhile, the adoption of smart TVs hasn’t eliminated use of streaming media devices; more than half (54%) of smart TV owners also have a Roku, Amazon Fire or similar.