Over 60% of connected TV households use TV apps

A new In-Stat research survey estimates that over 60% of connected TV households use a TV app at least once per week.

“As expected, Netflix and YouTube currently dominate the TV application space,” said Keith Nissen, research director. “But as Netflix competitors become more numerous and as applications are optimised for the big screen, TV apps will become part of the mainstream TV viewing experience.”

In-Stat forecasts that shipments of connected TVs with integrated TV applications will grow by an average 36% over the next five years.

However, TV apps are not the primary reason for purchasing connected TVs, according to the research, which also found that adoption of online video streaming services such as Netflix does not increase the propensity to purchase online video content.

The research also shows that viewing DVR recorded TV programming does not lead to the adoption of free VoD services from a pay TV operator.

In-Stat says consumers favouring subscriptions to both pay-TV and online video services rose from 18% to 30% during 2010, contributing to the continued growth of Netflix.