The popularity of TV apps is continuing to grow, but viewers are sticking with brands they know, rather than searching out new content.
A report by the Strategy Analytics Digital Home Observatory, TV Apps: Owners Won’t Give Them Up, found the most popular brands to be Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, Pandora and iPlayer.
Use of TV apps – including Facebook – was extremely limited with viewers believing them to be lacking in value and functionality.
“The industry seems to have forgotten it has a selling job to do,” said David Mercer, VP, Digital Consumer Practice. “Major consumer electronics players like Samsung and Sony have put a lot effort into developing connected TV platforms, but many consumers are unaware of their capabilities, even after they have bought the device. A lot more work needs to be done to demonstrate the power of smart TV in order to improve the viewing experience.”
Field work for the study was conducted in July 2011 with 12 owners of connected TVs based in San Diego and London.
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