One in five U.S. consumers now connect their televisions to the Internet via video game consoles, Blu-ray players or other devices, according to meadia research firm Frank N. Magid Associates.
The Magid survey, covered today by the Los Angeles Times, showed Internet connectivity up 16 percent over a year ago and likely to rise with "30 percent of consumers who haven't already connected expressing an interest in doing so," the story said.
"Over the next 18 months, we are going to be at the end of the early adopter phase of connected televisons as the mainstreaming of the technology happens," Magid researcher Andrew Hare was quoted by the Times as saying. "More and more Americans are getting connected televisions in their homes."
As might be expected, game consoles pioneered the transition with gamers using Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360, Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation or Nintendo's (TY: 7974) Wii devices to browse the Web, watch movies and TV shows as well as play games against online opponents. The devices also proved a way to check Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) accounts.
The research also predicted that the number of connected TVs could climb 50 percent or more annually over the next couple years and could lead people to buy smart TVs, the Times reported.
For more:
- see the LAT story
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