• by Wayne Friedman , October 9, 2013

Connected TV sets will more than double their share of the overall market in four years -- amounting to just over a quarter of all worldwide TV sets -- partly due to new Internet-to-TV technologies for non-connected TV sets.

TVs connected to the Internet will get to 759 million globally by 2018 -- up from 307 million expected at the end of this year, according to Digital TV Research. That’s a market share going to 26.8% in 2018 from 12.4% at the end of this year. Connected TVs were at a 5.1% share in 2010 -- some 115 million TV sets.

The movement can be partly attributed to new Internet-to-TV technologies for older TV sets.  

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, stated: “The introduction of affordable devices such as Google’s Chromecast and Sky’s Now TV are shaking up the market, with connected TV set manufacturers already reducing their prices as a reaction to this increased rivalry."

The use of other devices is important to this growth. Connected games consoles will rise to 176 million by 2018, or double the results in 2012. Smart TV sets will overtake games consoles connected to the Web this year. Smart TV sets will account for 34% of the 2018 total connected sets, or 259 million.

The global total of connected TV sets via streaming/retail set-top boxes will reach 126 million in 2018, up from only 4 million in 2010 .