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Gaming Consoles Become Online Video Hub, Smart TVs Nip At Heels

Keep your eyes on the game console.

Well, a lot of consumers are doing just that: watching the gaming console.

About 46% of broadband homes in the U.S. have a gaming console connected to the Web, and more than one quarter use it as their primary connected consumer electronics device. About three-quarters of those who rely on the gaming console as the main screen say they use it for regularly watching non-gaming content such as online video, according to a Parks Associates study of consumer behavior in the first quarter of the year. The research firm surveyed 10,000 homes.

Nearly 40% of consumers who use the console as their primary screen watch more than 10 hours of content, including video, each week on that screen.

Those percentages are perhaps higher than expected at first blush. But that’s due to the strong use of gaming devices in these homes. Parks Associates said that gaming consoles are the most frequently used connected device, and of the broadband homes with only one connected device, nearly 60% have opted for that device to be a gaming console. Parks said two-thirds of U.S. broadband homes have at least one connected device.

With those devices able to do more than just run games, consoles have become more of an entertainment hub for the home. Plus, about 55% of U.S. broadband homes are customers of over-the-top services like Amazon Prime or Netflix, and many of these services are on consoles.

However, smart TVs are on the rise as a connected device. Worldwide ownership of connected devices, such as smart TVs and Internet-connected gaming consoles, rose 7% in the second quarter of the year to 500 million units, according to Boston-based Strategy Analytics. Smart TVs were up 34% for the quarter. Strategy Analytics said smart TVs are now overtaking gaming consoles globally, and should be the dominant connected device in living rooms in time.

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