The connected TV market will grow 307 per cent over the next five years, with 220m sets sold worldwide in 2017, up from 54m this year.

In five years, 31 per cent of households across the world will own at least one smart TV set, according to Informa Telecoms & Media’s smart TV forecast, with the highest penetration in Western Europe, 64 per cent, and North America, 63 per cent.

Smart TV not right as hub of home
However, the report says that smart TV connection rates will continue to lag behind those of games consoles and media streaming devices like Apple TV because TVs are not the right device to be the centre of the digital home.

The report continued, saying that ‘smartphones in particular, with their short lifecycles and rapidly increasing processor power, will continue to define what ‘smart’ means’.
“Informa estimates that in 2017 more than half of the 800m Smart TV sets will only be used as dumb screens,” comments Andrew Ladbrook, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. 
“Moreover, while any ‘smart’ TV bought in 2011 or 2012 can be used for streaming online video services for a few years, they lack the processing power and the necessary hardware to perform those smart TV functions that will be standard in 2015. Simply put, any smart TV purchased in 2012 will be effectively obsolete by 2015.”

Standards and functionality needed
Informa believes that Android will become the default smart TV OS. At present, manufacturers offer short-term support for their smart TV products, and the fragmentation of platforms and standards also hinders the development of the platform. Most smart TVs require bespoke app development. This benefits the current market leaders, Samsung and LG.

“If TVs are going to be truly smart they must do more than offer a wide variety of online video services,” Ladbrook argues. “Instead they must add advanced functionality including voice control, motion control, advanced advertising, attractive user interfaces and two-way communications with other smart devices – so-called ‘second screens’ – allowing these devices both to send video to the TV and know what is being watched. Manufacturers should focus less on adding more content and more on improving how users can interact with that content.”