“Moving from a novelty to mainstream,” according to research
A new report from NPD DisplaySearch shows that while global shipments of smart TVs rose by 15%, North America is lagging behind other regions in adoption.
DisplaySearch attributes this gap primarily to North America’s already high consumption of internet-based video streaming through devices other than connected TVs.
Worldwide, just under 9.5 million open-internet-access smart TVs were shipped in Q2 2012. The report projects about 43 million smart TVs will ship by the end of that calendar year, with shipments reaching roughly 95 million by 2016.
Penetration rates for smart TVs differ significantly across regions. North America shows the lowest penetration at just under 20%. China and Western Europe are both slightly above 40%, while Japan leads with penetration exceeding 55%.
These penetration percentages reflect market concentration rather than absolute shipment counts. China is the largest market by volume, with nearly twice the smart TV shipments of Western Europe; Western Europe recorded about 2 million smart TV shipments in Q2 2012.
“North American households consume the highest levels of internet video, yet they don’t seem attracted to connected TVs,” said Paul Gray, European TV Research Director. He added that North America “leads by far in paid on-demand services, which tend to be tied to set-top boxes.”
The same NPD DisplaySearch research also highlights a potential growth market for low-cost smartphones.
NPD predicts shipments of budget smartphones—defined as models with retail prices up to $150—will double by 2016.
About 60% of that growth is expected to occur in the Asia Pacific region. Shawn Lee, NPD Research Director, observed that “low-cost smartphone manufacturers create these new products quickly without much investment, which has allowed them to extend their telecom subscriber base to emerging regions.”
Android-based economy smartphones are gaining share. NPD forecasts that budget Android alternatives will grow from roughly 2% to about 29% of the market by 2016, driven in part by the aggressive strategies of local Chinese vendors.
Taken together, these findings suggest notable shifts in both the mobile market and consumer television habits: smart TVs are progressing from novelty to mainstream in many regions, while inexpensive smartphones are expanding access to mobile connectivity in emerging markets. However, regional differences—particularly North America’s continued reliance on set-top boxes and paid on-demand services—mean the transition is uneven rather than uniform.