The number of TV connections to the Internet will reach 596 million by 2017, up from 105 million at end-2010 and the 212 million expected at end-2012 according to a Digital TV Research report covering 40 countries.

The US contributed 48 million to the 2010 total (or 45 per cent of the global total), and will grow to 78 million in 2012 (37 per cent) and 147 million by 2017 (only 25 per cent of the global total). China will have 93 million connected TVs by 2017, up from a mere 2 million at end-2010. So Japan will drop from second place in 2010 (13 million) to third in 2017 (43 million).

This global connected TV total translates to 21.4 per cent of global TV sets by 2017, up from only 4.7 per cent at end-2010 and 8.9 per cent by end-2012. The US will have the highest penetration of TV sets by 2017 – at 38.1 per cent, closely followed by Norway (37.7 per cent) and South Korea (37.2 per cent).

Report author Simon Murray said: “There has been something of a backlash against smart TV sets over the last year as critics argue that similar – or even better – offers are available on tablets or even mobile smartphones. Critics complain that connected TV sets provide a clunky experience. Although this is a wake-up call for those involved in the sector, these deficiencies are likely to be addressed reasonably soon as connected TV becomes mainstream. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of online usage via connected TVs is TV-related.”

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