The rise of smart TVs into the television mainstream continues unabated on a global basis, says research from IHS.
In its TV Sets Intelligence Service report, the analyst states that smart TV adoption has improved in many developed regions, as consumers increasingly seek streaming content from online video services. As a consequence, IHS expects that by 2019, more than 50% of TV households in Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany will have smart TVs.
Looking at these key markets, the analyst calculates that smart TV household penetration in Japan has already reached majority-statues and will rise to 63% in 2019, followed by the United States at 53%. By this time Germany and the United Kingdom are expected to witness 53% penetration for smart TVs in 2019, followed closely by France at 50%.
“Increasing demand for 4K resolution, the debut of high dynamic range (HDR) for both hardware and content, and access to streaming content that supports these features will accelerate smart TV demand globally,” commented TV Sets Intelligence Service report author Hisakazu Torii, senior director of consumer device research for IHS Technology. “Growing availability of 4K content from online video providers will also support this trend, as will the introduction of Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2016.”
Even though it is recognised as a key emerging TV market, China’s smart TV household penetration is expected to reach 46% by 2019, which is higher than other emerging regions. Smart TV is an essential feature on TVs sold in China, because many Chinese consumers seek out online content services. By contrast, smart TV household penetration in other emerging countries will likely remain low, due to a lack of online video content and insufficient infrastructure to deliver the required broadband Internet content to the home. For those reasons, smart TV household penetration in Brazil and Russia will only reach 36% in 2019 and just 3% in India.
“With content providers and smart-device manufacturers, such as Alibaba, LeTV, Xiaomi, now entering the TV set market, Chinese consumers have more smart TV choices than ever before,” Torii added. “Increased sales of 4KTVs will accelerate these trends in the Chinese market.”