Half of US homes have connected TV

Some 49% of US households now have at least one TV set connected to the web, up from 38% in 2012 and 24% in 2010, according to new research by Leichtman Research Group.

The firm – which counted TVs connected via a video game system, Blu-ray player, smart TV, or stand-alone device like Roku, Apple TV, or Google Chromecast – said that 24% of adults watch video from the internet via a connected TV at least weekly.

This compared to 13% of people two years ago and just 5% four years ago.

“Connected television use is heavily skewed towards Netflix subscribers, with 49% of Netflix subscribers watching video from the internet via a connected device weekly, compared to 8% weekly use among all non-Netflix subscribers. Among Netflix streaming video users, 78% say that they watch Netflix on a TV set – a similar level to the previous three years,” said Leichtman Research.

Other findings of the study were that 80% of all Netflix subscribers also subscribe to a pay TV service, compared to 85% in 2012 and 88% in 2010. Some 48% of people who don’t subscribe to a pay TV service were also found to use Netflix – compared to 29% in 2012, and 16% in 2010.

Overall, 47% of US households subscribed to one or more of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus, while, on a daily basis, 31% of adultswatch video on non-TV devices – including PCs, mobile phones, iPads, tablets and eReaders.

“Emerging Video Services have truly emerged over the past two to three years. This recent growth was spurred by Netflix’s decision in the third quarter of 2011 to focus on streaming video, coupled with the proliferation of connected TV devices, smartphones, and iPads and tablets,” said president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Bruce Leichtman.