Andre Yoskowitz
4 May 2013 16:33
According to the Diffusion Group's "Defining the In-Home CE and Network Ecosystem 2013" report, set-top boxes are not as popular as Smart TVs for Internet connectivity on the big screen.
25 percent of households with broadband own a Smart TV with an embedded app platform, compared to 14 percent for set-top boxes, which include the Apple TV, Boxee and Roku, among others.
The figure for smart TVs jumped from 12 percent at the end of 2011 to 25 percent at the end of 2012. Set-tops saw slower growth, from 12 percent to the aforementioned 14 percent.
While ownership may have been higher, only 69 percent of smart TV owners were even connected to the Internet. It is safe to assume that set-top owners are all connected to the Web, otherwise the boxes themselves are rather useless except for playing local content.
Consoles remained the most popular way to connect to the Internet on the big screen, with 62 percent of households with broadband connecting via their Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo devices.