Quarter of US TV households have internet connected sets
Around 25% of all US TV households have a television connected to the internet, according to a new report from Leichtman Research Group.
The connections vary from connecting through a video game system, a Blu-Ray player, or the TV set itself. LRG said that while internet connectivity has become a common feature for many products, consumers are just beginning to use it to watch online video.
Overall, just 1% of all adults watch video from the internet via one of these devices daily, and 5% weekly.
And usage is heavily skewed to young men, with 16% of men ages 18-34 watching video from the internet via one of these connected devices weekly, compared to 3% weekly use among all others.
The research, based on a survey of 1,250 households throughout the US, also found that among all individuals online at home, 4% strongly agree that they would consider disconnecting their TV service to just watch video online – compared to 3% last year, and 4% two years ago
Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said: “Despite speculation that consumers are “cutting the cord” to cable, satellite or Telco video services and choosing to watch video exclusively online or through other alternatives, there remains little evidence of this being a trend.
“Emerging video services do not necessarily create either/or scenarios in decisions to subscribe to a video service or not. Rather, they create opportunities and trade-offs in how, when, what, and where to consume the increasing video entertainment options.”
However, recent research from Deloitte revealed that just 10% of television will be viewed on-demand this year.
Ed Shedd, lead media partner at Deloitte, said: “The concurrent use of the web and TV will take off in 2010. But internet-connected televisions or set top boxes won’t be driving this. Rather it will be users combining their existing televisions and laptops, MP3 players or other browser-enabled devices that will drive the convergence.”