Smart TV use evolves to drive audio as well as video
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Editor
| 25 July 2023
A study from Hub Entertainment Research into how smart TV users’ habits are changing along with the TV sets they use has found habits are evolving before both viewers’ eyes and ears with streaming music now the most popular non-TV use of smart TVs.
Hub smart T V 25July2023
Hub’s Evolution of the TV Set 2023 report was based on a survey conducted among 2,504 US consumers in May 2023, covering consumer ownership of, and attitudes towards, TV sets and TV-related technologies.

The standout finding was that smart TVs are the home base for viewing being “smart” is now the standard for virtually all TV sets, and so ownership of smart TVs continues to climb: three quarters (74%) of TV homes now report owning a smart TV, up from 61% in 2020. Just under two-thirds (64%) of all TV homes report using a smart TV to stream video, compared with fewer than half (47%) in 2020.

And not only are more consumers using the built-in connectivity of smart TVs to watch video, but half of smart TV owners say they use their set for streaming music or other audio content. Hub believes that the dual increase in ownership and usage for viewing is a clear signal smart TVs are gaining traction, and gradually replacing separate streaming devices like Roku or Fire TV sticks or boxes.

Half of respondents (52%) say the TV set they use most often has a remote control with voice command capability, up from only 38% in 2020. And in homes with a smart TV, a third (30%) of respondents have linked their smart TV to a smart speaker to enable voice control – up from 25% in 2020.

One “smart” thing about smart TVs revealed in the study is they can be used to do other things besides watch TV. In 2023, just over three-quarters (77%) of smart TV owners said they use their set for more than just watching TV or movies up from 6 in 10 [63%] in 2020. The most popular non-TV feature on smart TVs is streaming music or other audio content: 49% say they have used their smart TV for this, almost doubling since 2020.

The second most used feature is casting or mirroring another device’s screen on the smart TV. Over a third (38%) of smart TV owners said they have done this in 2023 – almost tripling since our 2020 wave.

“The evolution of the TV set is making valuable new features available to viewers, whether it be better quality picture and sound, streaming, apps, or voice control,” said David Tice, senior consultant to Hub and co-author of the study. “This also means challenges to incumbent firms in the TV ecosystem as alternative content providers, advertising sellers, and gatekeepers dramatically increase their presence through the growth of smart TVs.”