Set-top boxes still “fighting off the threat” from Smart TVs, says latest Decipher report
Digital Media specialist Decipher has released a report that shows that traditional set-top boxes are still more popular than Smart TVs, despite the increasing adoption of the latter into living rooms across the UK.
The FutureMedia 2013 report, ‘building the connected home’, looked at users that had both a set-top box (STB) and Smart TV in the same installation, revealing that 73% of users preferred the STB over the Smart TV.
Decipher reported that this is generally because of the ability of the STB to integrate on-demand more closely with broadcast, offer more TV friendly interfaces and provide simplicity.
The STB ‘player’ use was the highest in YouView, with 28% of connected users regularly using BBC iPlayer. Next came Virgin’s TiVo users (20%), whilst only 8% of Sky’s customers used the STB player on a regular basis.
Where a consumer had both a STB and a Smart TV, the use of the connected screens was reduced to apps that don’t appear in STBs, such as YouTube.
The report further showed that users prefer personal video recording (PVR) to video on demand, demonstrating the popularity of the STB when it comes to broadcasting platforms. According to Decipher, it is the lack of PVR capabilities on Smart TVs that is most “damaging” for the product. Viewers like having the option to pause and rewind.
Nigel Walley, Managing Director of Decipher, said: “There is an assumption that, because of SmartTVs and OTT apps like Netflix, we are moving to a ‘cloud’ TV world, but that is one whole generational leap away. Before then we have a decade where the super STBs dominate home media.
“The smart TVs haven’t made any effort to integrate on-demand with broadcast in their interfaces. The STBs have a much more UK centric view of the market, and recognise that they need to work with the broadcasters to keep the consumer in the STB environment.
“Rather than a simple digital divide, we are moving into a situation where we have a wide spread of media capabilities across UK homes. This spread looks set to increase as consumers at the advance end of the spectrum pull away.”
This year, approximately 4% of pay TV customers have reduced or cancelled pay TV subscriptions on purchase of a Smart TV.
Decipher concludes that, rather than jumping into a cloud based, OTT future, we are moving into an era of TV dominated by a generation of super PVRs, sitting at the centre of networked, media rich homes.
For now, the set-top box reigns strong in a rapidly evolving digital world.