Connected TVs snatch online video viewing crown from PCs
Big screen viewing preferred
More people watch internet-sourced video on their TVs than their PCs - at least in the US. Another sign, maybe, that the PC is losing its place at the centre of consumers' digital lives, at least for video entertainment.
According to NPD, a North American market watcher, during the past 12 months the proportion of folk watching paid and free video streams on a telly has risen to 45 per cent, up from 33 per cent in the same period last year. PC usage for the video viewing dropped from 48 per cent to 31 per cent in the same timeframe.
You'd expect punters to want to watch video, whatever its source, on a TV - bigger screens and all that - but it's telling that they're now sufficiently tech'd up to be able to do so - and the image quality of the content is good enough for TV viewing. More internet-connectable tellies - aka smart TVs - are on the market, and more of them have access to a broad array of popular content services.
NPD reckons some 12 per cent of the TVs in US homes during Q2 were net-connectable, which amounts to some 29 million sets.
Set-top boxes like Apple's Apple TV and WD's WD TV are very popular too, as are games consoles. Both types of gadget can be used to view web-sourced video on a TV rather than a PC, the set-top especially so. But NPD found that as consumers acquire connected TVs, they tend to leave other gadgets behind. It said nearly one in five connected TV installations resulted in consumers no longer using such devices for video.
NPD said it has found that 43 per cent of connected TV users accessed online entertainment directly from their TVs. Netflix is the dominant application for IPTV. Of those viewing online video on the TV, 40 per cent use their connected TVs to stream video via Netflix, 12 per cent access HuluPlus, and four per cent connect to Vudu. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Best of both worlds...
Same here. No issues with what I can or can't watch due to hardware. Seems like the best solution to me.
Re: Sigh
Somehow I don't think he wants to watch Downton Abbey or kids cartoons...
Re: Best of both worlds...
Upvoted.
An HTPC / home NAS really makes life easier when you've got your whole family's collection of mobes, tablets, laptops, consoles, etc all wanting to get at the same data. The advantages of a full fat OS over a "smart" TV are fairly obvious. My wife and daughter may never use the mouse/game controller/keyboard on the coffee table, but having that option is great. I also like the advantage of having one interface that controls/records antenna, ripped movies, streaming content, console emulation, and BlueRay. And, if I decide I'm sick of that interface I can easily swap it out for another one or customize the one in use.
All data, all the time, everywhere
Convergence marches on. Telly, tablet, PC, all just data consuming and data presenting appliances. Evolution of electricity use similar.
Time was, electric motors were sold separately to power existing machinery previously powered by hand/horse/steam. Then the machinery became integrated with electric motors, so separate motors (now set top boxes) no longer were needed. Finally, new classes of machinery using electricity were developed. I expect the same with data using devices.
