A study into the use of connected devices by UK consumers has found owners to be primarily young and affluent males.
The research conducted for Rovi by Decipher looked at owners of Samsung TV/Blu-ray players. 63% of the respondents are Sky subscribers – the majority have pay-TV – and one in four have superfast broadband of at least 50 Mbps. As owners of a large number of gadgets they are seven times more likely to own a tablet than the national average.
The first phase of the study into the use of connected TVs and interactive advertising examined connected device familiarity and usage, creating a profile of the connected TV audience and comparing it to the average UK household.
Decipher conducted the smart TV research among more than 500 households that are part of the Rovi UK Smart TV Field Trial Advertising programme. Similar projects are underway in Canada and Germany.
“The study, combined with the broader Rovi Smart TV Field Trial, is an opportunity for participating brands to explore emerging connected platforms and to evaluate ad effectiveness on the medium,” said Jeff Siegel, senior vice president of worldwide advertising at Rovi Corporation. “We believe the initial data demonstrates the potential of this platform as a new media channel, which consumers are adopting more quickly than many had anticipated.”
Connected users who claim to “always” use the Samsung’s ‘Smart Hub’ connected portal are young, busy professionals. 84% of study respondents are connecting their Samsung Smart TV and Blu-ray players and are regularly using the Samsung “Smart Hub” content portal to access IP-delivered content via applications such as BBC iPlayer and Lovefilm; Usage of Smart Hub stimulates TV viewing, as 49% claim it makes them “watch more TV.”
“We are pleased to participate in this pioneering study,” said Nigel Walley, chief executive of Decipher. “These studies will help dispel the misconception that people are not yet connecting or using the connected functionality of their Smart TVs and other devices.”
The primary reasons given for using the Smart Hub are the convenience of doing multiple tasks on a single screen and accessing on-demand content – something that could be said of many well-designed EPGs. 58% of study respondents use fewer devices to access the internet because they can now access applications on their TV.
