Connected devices to reach almost 120 million in US by 2015

By 2015 there will be an estimated 119 million connected devices in US homes, according to a recent report by The NPD Group.

The Connected Intelligence report – based on NPD’s quarterly Connected Home surveys conducted among 4,000-5,000 U.S. consumers over 18 – estimates that in the next two years, there will be a 51% increase from the 78.5 million currently Internet connected today.

According to NPD, streaming media players will see the highest growth in installed units by 2015, followed by connected TVs, connected Blu-ray disc players, and connected video game consoles.

“The battle in living rooms across the US isn’t only between people deciding what to watch, it’s between the devices vying to get content onto the screen,” said John Buffone, director of the device practice of Connected Intelligence.

“Consumers have a lot of hardware options, on average 1.5 internet devices per connected TV. When it comes to watching streamed content, TV viewers have to choose between the unique set of applications, user interface, and other characteristics offered by each device.”

While connected video game consoles are projected to see the lowest percentage growth in installed units, they will remain the primary device delivering Internet to the TV.

By 2015 the number of installed Internet connected video game consoles is projected to increase by 22% as consumers begin to swap out existing consoles for ‘next generation’ consoles that rely heavily on connectivity.

NPD’s 2013 Online Gaming Study found that connected game consoles are used for far more than gaming.

The activity with the highest rating among PS3 users was watching a DVD (34%) followed by watching a Blu-ray disc (30%). Xbox 360 users tend to watch YouTube (24%) and DVDs (23%), while Wii users’ highest non-gaming activity was to stream a film through Netflix (21%).