About half of all TV sets to be sold in The Netherlands during 2011 will be connected TV sets, according to figures from GfK. In 2012, two-thirds of all sets sold will have access to the internet.
Laurens van de Oever, commercial director at GfK, presented these figures at the annual Emerce eRetail day. This growth of connected TV sets will lead to 56% connected TV penetration in three years’ time in The Netherlands. These figures only reflect connected TV sets, not those connected to the web using a separate set-top box or games console.
With regards to the premium movie market, GfK predicts a shift from physical media (DVDs, Blu-ray discs) to web TV and cable VOD services. Although the firm expects premium movie sales and rentals to remain even, by 2013 the majority will be delivered via VOD and online rather than on physical media.
GfK’s figures for the Dutch market are along the same lines as those recently published for the German market, where Bitkom predicts 5 million connected TV sets will be sold this year.
These figures look impressive, but it remains to be seen if people buying a connected TV set will indeed access the internet with their TV set and actively use such services. Both cable and IPTV operators are now developing their VOD and catch-up TV services and consumers might prefer the ease of use of such offers rather than use the more complicated over the top way.
