Research: 80% US homes own connected TV device
June 8, 2020
Findings from Leichtman Research Group (LRG) indicate that 80 per cent of US TV households have at least one Internet-connected TV device, including connected Smart TVs, stand-alone streaming devices (such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV stick or set-top box, Chromecast, or Apple TV), connected video game systems, and/or connected Blu-ray players. This is an increase from 74 per cent with at least one connected TV device in 2018, 57 per cent in 2015, and 24 per cent in 2010.
Overall, 40 per cent of adults in US TV households watch video on a TV via a connected device daily – compared to 29 per cent in 2018, 12 per cent in 2015, and 1 per cent in 2010. Older individuals use connected TV devices less often than others. Among all adults ages 55+, 18 per cent watch video on a TV via a connected device daily – compared to 48 per cent of ages 35-54 and 55 per cent of ages 18-34.
These findings are based on a survey of about 2,000 TV households in the US, and are part of a new LRG study, Connected and 4K TVs 2020.
Other findings include:
- Among those with any connected TV device, 64 per cent have three or more devices – with a mean of 4.1 devices per connected TV household
- 58 per cent of TV households have at least one connected Smart TV – up from 47 per cent in 2018, 22 per cent in 2015, and 8 per cent in 2010
- 56 per cent of TV households have at least one stand-alone streaming device – up from 46 per cent in 2018, 23 per cent in 2015, and 3 per cent in 2011
- On a daily basis, 25 per cent of adults watch video on a TV via a stand-alone device, 20 per cent via an Internet-enabled Smart TV app, 11 per cent via a connected game system, and 3 per cent via a connected Blu-ray player
- 62 per cent of 4K HDTV owners agree (8-10) that the picture quality makes everything look better, even when not watching 4K content, while 6 per cent disagree (1-3)
“The data in this study indicate that there are now nearly 400 million connected TV devices in US TV households,” advises Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “This is an increase from about 250 million connected TV devices in 2016. And these totals do not even include pay-TV set-top boxes that can be used to access content from the Internet. Along with this increase in the number of devices, the percent of adults in the US using these connected devices to watch video on a TV each day has more than doubled—growing from nineteen to forty per cent—in just the past four years.”