Commentary

Big Jump In Connected TV Use

Connected TV use has nearly doubled in the last year for the 18- to 49-year-old demo, according to a new report from Pivotal Researchreleased this week. The firm found that 8.5% of all TV usage in July was routed through connected TVs, such as via Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast. That’s a big jump from the 4.9% usage rate from the year-ago period, and the 1.9% Pivotal reported in July 2014.

Other researchers have chronicled the rapid rise in connected TV use, too. In the spring, Leichtman Research Group reported that 65% of U.S. TV homes have at least one set connected to the Internet, up from 44% in 2013 and 24% in 2010.

Interestingly, of those homes with connected TVs, about three-quarters had more than one connected device, suggesting that use of this technology tends to run deep once it’s in place. Leichtman identifies a connected TV as a video game system, a smart TV set, a Blu-ray player, or a device like Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, or Amazon Fire TV.

Further evidence of the rise in this “consumer-is-in-charge” style of entertainment consumption comes from new data on subscription video on demand revenue. This figure hit $1.5 billon in the United States in the second quarter, up from $1.25 billion a year ago, representing a 21% increase, according to Digital Entertainment Group’s 2Q Home Entertainment Report.

VOD and electronic sell-through also jumped year over year and quarter over quarter, as did the spend on Ultra HD TVs.

All signs so far point to a continued robust appetite for content.

4 comments about "Big Jump In Connected TV Use ".
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  1. Bob Gordon from The Auto Channel, August 18, 2016 at 4:08 p.m.

    and still nothing on to watch....

  2. Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC replied, August 18, 2016 at 5:36 p.m.

    We've seen that for years. I did research in the mid=1990's pitching 200 channels. And the consumer response was... "I already have 90 channels and on Friday evening I can't find anything to watch. Why would this be any different?"

    Loved the humble & accurate reflection of a human problem that's not a tech solvable one. On the other hand my client was furious and accused us of not hyping the channels enough. The truth after the product rolled out? The consumers were right.

  3. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, August 18, 2016 at 6:34 p.m.

    Nothing to watch, ever ? What do you want ?

  4. Kevin Horne from Verizon, August 21, 2016 at 2:06 a.m.

    "Interestingly...about 3/4 [of connected homes] had more than one connected device"

    Why is no one - NO ONE - interested in analyzing that "little" factoid ?   !!!   ?

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