• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, March 7, 2017

The number of smart homes is growing, depending on how they are counted.

There are smart home devices and then there are smart home solutions, at least from the standpoint of researchers.

For example, if connected or smart televisions are counted as making a home ‘smart,’ then the 74% of households that have one are in that category, based on a survey of 2,000 U.S. adult broadband users conducted by The Diffusion Group.

But then again, one in four (26%) of U.S. consumers own a smart home product, according to yet another study based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by PwC.

Now a new study just out pegs the number lower, but from yet another perspective.

This study, comprising an online survey of 10,000 consumers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia conducted by Gartner, measured the size of households with connected home solution.

The study found that only 10% of households have connected home solutions.

Gartner defined connected home solutions as consisting of “a set of devices and services that are connected to each other and to the Internet and can automatically respond to preset rules, be remotely accessed and managed by mobile apps or a browser, and send alerts or messages to the user(s).”

The overall adoption rate of smart home solutions was up to 6% higher in the U.S. Here’s the adoption rate by device type, according to Gartner:

• 18% -- Security alarm systems
• 11% -- Home monitoring
• 11% -- Health and wellness management
• 9% -- Home automation and energy management

Home monitoring is a more developed market in the U.S., and in that market, most (59%) of households with a home monitoring solution say they pay a monthly fee, making it one of the hottest areas for recurring IoT revenue.

The survey did uncover one of the challenges of mass adoption of integrated IoT solutions.

Three-quarters of consumers said they were happy to manually set temperature and lighting controls while only a quarter expressed an interest in having devices anticipate needs in their home. 

The majority of consumers may not have a household full of connected gadgets, but that doesn’t mean they are totally left out of the connected things movement.

It turns out that the majority (54%) of U.S. adults have Netflix in their households, more than have a DVR, according to a survey of 1,200 U.S. adults conducted by Leichtman Research Group.

While many consumers may not even be aware of the concept of the Internet of Things, they are obtaining smart TVs, using Internet-connected services and buying products that have Internet-connectivity built in.

No matter how it’s measured, the Internet of Things continues to grow, one connected device and one connected person at a time.