New Delhi: Over 665 million global households owned a Smart TV by the end of 2020 accounting for 34 per cent of the total households, said the US- based firm Strategy Analytics in its latest report.
According to the report, 'Global Smart TV Forecast for 88 Countries 2011-2026', the penetration of Smart TV is set to rise to 51 per cent by 2026 when Smart TV ownership will reach 1.1 billion homes. While the demand for smart TVs was growing anyways, the pandemic-induced lockdown accelerated the sale further. As per the data collected by the firm, annual shipments reached 186 million units during 2020 representing 79 per cent of all TVs shipped worldwide. The shipments are expected to break through 200 million units per year in 2022 it stated further.
The strongest growth was witnessed in North America. According to the report, this could also be due to the government stimulus cheques which helped to drive an increase in spending on home entertainment products as consumers found themselves spending more time at home due to Covid-19 related restrictions.
Samsung, TCL and LG emerged as the world's leading smart TV brands and represent over 40 per cent of the market between them, up from 33 per cent in 2015. Samsung led in terms of annual sales units for the ninth straight year in 2020 while TCL climbed above LG and into second place for the first time. Meanwhile, the Smart TV market continues to coalesce around a handful of TV streaming platforms or operating systems.
The report found that Samsung’s Tizen leads the way but major third-party software platforms such as Android TV and Roku TV OS have made strong gains in recent years.
“Smart TV is a standard fit feature of most flat panel TVs sold today and so smart TV household penetration will inevitably continue to grow as consumers replace old sets with new modern smart-enabled versions,” said Connected Home Devices senior analyst, Edouard Bouffenie. “As smart functionality is no longer a point of differentiation but has become a checkbox necessity, smart TV manufacturers have had to make a choice between maintaining their own software and application ecosystems or licensing a software platform from a third-party partner.”
While many have decided to partner with the likes of Google’s Android TV and Roku in order to avoid the ongoing costs of maintaining their own platform, others like Samsung, Vizio and LG are going alone to capitalise on the fast growing Connected TV advertising business.
“However, the current Connected TV landscape in the home is incredibly complex and consumers may have multiple devices in multiple configurations to choose from”, said Media and Intelligent Home Practice, vice president, David Watkins. “Factor in different viewing habits amongst different members of the household and it’s clear that TV streaming platform providers face a significant challenge in driving engagement and ensuring that TV viewers remain on their platform and do not switch to another source. Smart TV OS providers must look to influence the TV viewer’s journey through improved content discovery capabilities, advanced analytics and advertising platforms and the development of an intuitive and user-friendly UI.”
The report forecasts global smart TV shipments, installed base, households and household penetration by six major regions and 88 countries from 2011 to 2026.
