Smart TV owners accelerate non-TV feature uses
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| 16 August 2023
TVs aren’t just for TV anymore says a new study from Hub Entertainment Research finding three-quarters of smart TV owners have made use of one of seven specific “non-TV” features, an increase over the 2020 wave of the study, when this was two-thirds.
Hub non TV 16Aug2023
The Evolution of the TV Set 2023 study noted that the adoption of smart TVs over the past decade – and their accelerated adoption in the past five years – has some parallels with the adoption cycle of smartphones.

The study found 90% of those age 16-34 had used a non-TV feature whereas only a slight majority (55%) of people aged 55-74 had done so. And while the overall usage of non-TV features has increased somewhat since 2020, such a general look hid the relative differences between them.

Over 80% of users of each non-TV feature say they are very or somewhat satisfied with the performance of that feature – so while some are used more than others, all these non-TV features score well with their users. The most popular non-TV feature was using a smart TV to listen to a streaming music or audio service; this almost doubled from 2020 to 2023. The second most popular, mirroring or casting another device’s screen to the smart TV, almost tripled in use during that time.

Hub also found that consumers were willing to embrace non-TV uses for their smart sets, and those who have done so are already satisfied. This suggests that the idea of making smart TVs the “hub” of home technology – media, smart home, or otherwise – is not a pipe dream. OEMs have the chance to increase engagement with consumers across content categories (and even beyond entertainment itself) and to assume a central role in how people manage technology on a daily basis.

“Just as smartphones have evolved well beyond their primary mission of calling and texting, so also we may see smart TVs take on more non-video functions as they evolve – creating new benefits for consumers and new opportunities for OEMs, app developers, and marketers,” remarked David Tice, senior consultant, Hub Entertainment Research.