Survey: 74% of Homes Now Have a Smart TV; Have they Become the Key Device in Home Entertainment?
The smart TV has changed essentially everything about the average American living room. Twenty years ago, a home entertainment system required a stereo for listening to radio and CDs, a TV, a VCR or DVD player to watch home media, a cable box, and various remotes to operate all these disparate gadgets.
Today, the functions of all those devices can be carried out by the smart TV. That may be why the devices are so popular in the United States; according to new data released by Hub Research, 74% of homes now have at least one smart TV, up from 61% in 2020. Users no longer have to rely on physical media like discs or tapes either; 64% of homes use a smart TV to stream video.
The functionality of smart TVs has improved in the past few years as well. Voice-powered remotes were once reserved only for the highest-end sets, and only 38% of the most-used TVs in 2020 were equipped with one. Now, more than half (52%) of the most-used sets in America have a remote with voice-command capabilities. The use of smart speakers that link to the TV has also risen, up to 30% from 25% three years ago.
But the real statistic that illustrates the growing importance of smart TVs in the home entertainment ecosystem is the fact that 77% of smart TV owners use their set for something besides watching TV or movies. The most popular second function is music listening; 49% of respondents said they used their smart TV to stream audio or music. The second-most used alternate function for smart TVs was to mirror another device’s screen, which 38% of households say they have done with their set.
“The evolution of the TV set is making valuable new features available to viewers, whether it be better quality picture and sound, streaming, apps, or voice control,” said David Tice, senior consultant to Hub and co-author of the study. “This also means challenges to incumbent firms in the TV ecosystem as alternative content providers, advertising sellers, and gatekeepers dramatically increase their presence through the growth of smart TVs.”
Roku is leading the pack as far as manufacturers are concerned. There are more smart TV homes with Roku sets (two in five) than other devices with licensed operating systems like Amazon Fire TV or Android TV. Overall customer familiarity with the Fire TV brand is still about two-thirds of Roku, and Roku continues with a wide lead in streaming media players. Roku’s lead may be widened even further by the introduction of in-house manufactured smart TVs, which hit the market earlier this year.
Smart TVs are more frequently coming loaded with their own programming, as well. Manufacturers like Samsung and VIZIO operate their own ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and free ad-supported TV (FAST) services — Samsung TV Plus and VIZIO WatchFree+ respectively — and 70% of users are aware of such platforms. But these services must do a better job at curating their content, as viewership of the top FAST platforms offered by manufacturers fell in 2023 as compared to the final quarter of 2022.
One area in which smart TV providers must do a better job of being transparent is use of customer data. More than two out of five smart TV owners are unaware that their viewing habits might be tracked by their device manufacturer, and 75% say they aren’t aware of tracking at all, or are aware but don’t know their opt-in status. This stands in stark contrast to Telly’s practices, which informs users up front that their data will be sold to advertisers before allowing them to opt into their 55” 4K smart TV giveaway.
The American media landscape has been forever altered by the smart TV. Users are finding new ways to maximize their devices, obviating the need for superfluous gadgets like Blu-ray players and CD players. Smart TVs will continue to evolve in the coming years, but they’re already the most important device in home entertainment.