More smart devices for media use at home were sold in Germany last year than ever before.
A total of 6 million internet-capable TV sets, set-top-boxes as well as video players and recorders with smart functions were bought in 2017, reports German industry association Deutsche TV-Platform with reference to figures from GfK Retail & Technology. This represents an increase of 9% over the previous year (2016: 5.5 million).
The by far largest category, with 4.9 million units sold (2016: 4.4 million), were smart TV sets. Compared with the number of all TV sets sold (7.0 million), more than two-thirds of TV sets (69%) were equipped with smart services in 2017 (2016: 64%).
The majority (85%) of internet-capable TV sets are ‘smart’ not only through apps and browsers, but also support interactive multimedia standard HbbTV.
A total of 36.6 million smart devices have been sold in Germany since 2004, including 29.1 million TV sets.