The rise in over-the-top viewing services has driven connected TV penetration to a majority. More than 52% of broadband homes now have at least one TV connected to the Web, which is an increase
of 6 million homes from 2015, according to the latest research from The NPD Group.
Specifically, growth in the number of TV homes with connected TVs has jumped 14% in the last year, which equates to more than 49 million homes in the U.S. The average TV
home has about three devices that can stream programming through TVs -- which can include game consoles, streaming TV devices or smart TVs, NPD said.
Hand in hand with the growth in smart
TVs is the number of homes that access services like Netflix or Amazon Prime. That number clocks in at more than 50% of American homes, according to a just-released report from Pivotal Research.
Even as the number of connected sets
grows, the impact on the pay-TV business remains small. In related findings, Leichtman Research Group said in its newest report
that the 13 largest pay-TV operators, comprising 95% of the industry, lost about 385,000 video subscribers last year. That’s higher than their previous losses during the last two years, but
still represents a mere 0.4% shrinkage in the business. Overall, the top cable operator losses were the smallest that they have been since 2006, the report found.
Looks like all these services
are coexisting just fine for now.