Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

In A Connected World, Why Aren't Smart TVs Very Clever?

Turns out that smart TVs can be, well, pretty dumb. Even moderately priced sets can now connect to the Internet and run Netflix and other apps -- that's the "smart" part. Yet many people are ignoring the built-in features and turning to Apple TV, Roku and other stand-alone streaming devices that often do a better job.

In an August report, the NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren't actually connected to the Internet. That's down from about half two years earlier, but still not good. Researchers at Parks Associates found that even as more Americans are using smart TV functions, streaming device usage has grown even faster.

"If you're a streaming media box (maker), you've got much more ability to push new features out into the market at an affordable price," says Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates' director of research. "They're very stiff competition for smart TVs."

From the article "In A Connected World, Why Aren't Smart TVs Very Clever?" by Anick Jesdanun and Ryan Nakashima.

Previously In The News

Ranking The Most Popular Sports OTT Networks

NFL Game Pass is the most popular sports OTT video service in the U.S., according to Parks Associates, although at this point sports video services are still a relatively niche market. Overall, jus...

Facebook is developing a voice assistant, and it already has a home of its own

But Portal takes the social network off smartphones, which people typically use to access Facebook, and on to something larger — a smart display. People are expected to buy more than 64 million smart...

DirecTV Wants To Be The Next Online Substitute For Cable

And plenty of people never signed up for a $100 TV bundle to begin with. Research firm SNL Kagan estimates that about 14.4 million households pay for internet but not TV. AT&T sees the potential marke...

Digital Publishers Lost $41.4 Bn Due To Ad Blocking: Study

“Many content creators rely on advertising revenue to monetise video, especially as newly launched digital services seek revenue. As digital video viewership increases on all screens, use of ad-blocki...