Connected video devices in the U.S. are expected to see slower growth to total 1.14 billion by 2026 -- up from 1.04 billion this year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, based on October 2022 research.
This is largely attributable to the slower growth of video-enabled mobile phones -- estimated to grow 1.1% to 314.5 million (in 2026), from 303.1 million this year. Overall, S&P projects devices per U.S. household will remain “relatively stable” -- at 8.5 devices per home.
Streaming video-enabled smart TV sets will continue to rise over the next four years -- with 7.4% growth on average, with set-top box streaming media players declining 9.8%.
By 2026, smart TV will have an installed base of 274.2 million -- up from 208.5 million this year.
At the same time, streaming media players, including Roku and Apple TV, will decline to 24.3 million from 37.6 million.
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Gaming consoles will also see a decline -- sinking 0.3% to 83.4 million in four years from 88.3 million this year.
Other streaming devices -- “streaming sticks” -- Google’s Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV -- are expected to rise 8% to 103.2 million, up from 78.4 million this year.
Underlying some of this activity is high-speed residential home broadband service, which is now in 122.1 million households and is expected to rise to 134.4 million. The U.S. Census estimates there were 128.5 million U.S. households in 2021 with high-speed home broadband service.