Consumers Believe Mobile Will Replace TV By 2022, Most Prefer Content Live
- by Wayne Friedman , January 8, 2014
LAS VEGAS -- New research shows that more than half of consumers believe mobile devices will replace television sets by 2022.
A study released by Irdeto, a European-based media services company, during the Consumer Electronics Show says that 53% of consumers believe mobile devices like smartphones and tablets will replace television sets in the next eight years as the preferred way to watch TV and movies.
Perhaps the worst news for those proponents of TV sets -- 31% believe that change will actually occur sooner, in the next one to five years.
Other results: The majority of consumers (65%) still prefer to watch their favorite content live -- either on their television or streaming on a mobile device.
Some 60% of 18-24 consumers prefer viewing full series at once -- so-called binge viewing -- according to the study.
Over 30% of respondents believe they will be using a smart TV to watch movies and television within five years; 6% believe it will be gaming consoles; 6% say streaming devices like Roku will be popular; 5% point to tablets and mobile phones; and 2% cite devices, such as Google Chromecast.
The study indicates that only 18% of consumers are “very interested” in buying a 4K TV/Ultra HDTV, 40% are “somewhat interested,” 27% are “not very interested” and 16% are “not interested at all."
The survey was conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older between Dec. 17 and 23, 2013.
"Watching TV on Tablet" photo from Shutterstock.
Unfortunately, Irdeto fielded the survey the week before Christmas, which every market researcher knows to be the time of year when you avoid surveys altogether (unless you're gauging last-minute Christmas shopping intentions). Makes the results highly questionable.
Excellent point Michael. They also seemed to have neglected the research mode - mobile, online? I reckon I could have a good guess. If you REALLY want some insight into the likely video usage on smartphones, track down Jeffrey Katzenberg's wise words during his presentation at this year's MIPCOM. In a nutshell it's all about "wait time" in our increasingly busy lives. We rush to the station, airport, checkout etc ... then we have to wait. Smartphones are IDEAL for filling that hole and what better to fill it with than some form of video. But to assume that usage growth means the death of traditional 'lean-back' TV (which by virtually every believable research source is still eking out slight growth - it already takes up around one-eighth of our day) says more about the lack of understanding of the human psyche and our diurnal round by the researcher/pundit than anything else.