5th of TV sets connected to the internet by 2016

A new report from Digital TV Research has projected that the number of TV sets connected to the internet will reach 551 million by 2016, up from 124 million at the end of 2010.

The Connected TV Forecasts report claims that this translates to 20% of global TV sets by 2016, up from only 6% at the end of 2010.

Despite this rapid growth, only 8.9% of global TV sets will be connected to the internet by 2016.

However, this is up from just 1.4% at the end of last year. Proportions will vary considerably from one country to the next, with South Korea the market leader in 2016 (boasting 15.0% penetration).

The gross proportion of TV households with a connected set will be 43% by 2016, up from 11% in 2010.

The report author Simon Murray said: “These are gross figures as it is possible that one TV household can have several sets connected to the internet. For example, a TV household could own a connected TV set, and may also have a connected fixed games console. This report identifies five different ways by which a set can be connected to the Internet- and one form of connection does not exclude the other forms.”

The most popular way to connect a TV to the internet at present is via the fixed games console (Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox), which accounted for 79 million at the end of 2010.

However, sales of connected TV sets (with a built-in ethernet connection and, increasingly, widgets/applications) are taking off, especially as retail prices are beginning to fall. Soon most sets on sale will have the ability to connect to the internet (though not all homes buying these sets will connect).

There were 31 million installed connected TV sets at the end of last year and this total is expected to rocket to 244 million by 2016.

The number of connected TV sets will exceed the number of connected games consoles by the end of 2012. Nearly a fifth of TV households will have a connected TV set by 2016, up from only 2.6% at the end of 2010.