The launch of Netflix and Google TV, and major sporting events such as the Olympics and European Football Championships may boost sales of smart TVs in the UK, a YouGov survey into consumer behaviour next year suggests.
Smart TVs are TV sets that can be connected to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable.
Sales of the devices are slowly growing, according to YouGov. While consumers’ intention to buy a smart TV is, in general, now low, the rumoured released of a smart TV device by consumer electronics giant Apple – the “iTV” – could boost sales, along with the increasing availability of content which is now only available on broadcast television.
In the UK, one in 10 people own a smart TV and 36pc of survey respondents aged 18-24 said they would be encouraged to buy a smart TV if more of the content they normally watch was available online.
“Smart content producers must continue to develop their services to make it increasingly easier for people to watch what they want, when they want, wherever they want,” said Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov.
A “killer app” for the smart TV would be the ability to use social networking services in conjunction with television services, to make for so-called ‘social TV’, YouGov said.
