• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, May 1, 2016

Wearables and smart home devices are on a tear.

Among the fastest growing technology categories overall, wearable fitness trackers are now owned by almost two times more households than just a year ago.

Those fitness trackers are owned by 20% of U.S. households with another 15% of households planning to purchase one in the next year, based a new report.

And smart home devices, like smart thermostats, lighting controls and motion sensors, are now owned by 15% of households, according to the latest tally by the Consumer Technology Association, formerly the Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that runs the gigantic CES show in Las Vegas every year.

Smartwatches also are on the rise, although not as big a deal as other wearables, which typically cost a lot less than a smartwatch.

Eight percent of households currently own a smartwatch and 8% plan to buy one in the next year, according to the CTA annual study.

At least in the short term, smartphones still are the central device that all those wearables and smart home devices link to.

After all, the consumer value involves either receiving information, such as miles walked, from a fitness tracker, or being given more remote control, such as changing thermostat settings before getting home.

For the most part, all of those activities happen on a smartphone, for all kinds of practical reasons.

Meanwhile, the value to marketers is in the massive data flow from those connected devices, as I wrote about here last week (Tapping Wearables Data: 38% Of Marketers Want Daily Routine, 37% Precise Location).

Other wireless devices, like headphones and speakers, also are on the rise, although those are not likely to be so-called smart devices.

However, they do help consumers become more comfortable with using Bluetooth and accessing data, such as music, from one location to another.

The television still remains the most commonly owned tech product, as might be expected.

However, more and more of those televisions being made and bought are smart, becoming bona-fide members of the Internet of Things.

No matter where you look, smart is on the rise.