Consumers increasingly are demonstrating their interest in watching Web video on TV, with more than 27.5 percent of all TVs purchased in the United States in January connected to the Internet, according to a survey conducted by research firm iSuppli.
The January figure represents an increase from December 2009 when the level of Internet-connected TVs sold for the month in the United States reached 24.3 percent.
According to iSuppli analyst Tina Tseng, consumers want to view Internet content on their primary home displays, namely their TVs, rather than watching video on the small screens of their desktop and notebook PCs.
The survey found that 41.9 percent of Internet-connected TVs in the United States in January were Internet-enabled. The next most popular way to connect, at 20.3 percent, was via video game consoles. This was followed by Blu-ray players at 13.2 percent. Digital video boxes and other means, such as connecting via a home PC, tied with 12.3 percent each.
Internet-enabled TVs share of Internet-connected TV in January rose by 14.2 percentage points from 27.7 percent in December.
ISuppli defines an Internet-enabled TV as a set that can connect to the Internet either with a wired link or wirelessly and provides sufficient system resources to support thin-client applications, such as Yahoo Connected TV widgets or the Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home.
The findings come from a survey conducted by iSuppli’s U.S. TV Consumer Preference Analysis service.