Connected TV sales to rocket

Sales of connected TVs will surpass those of video games consoles for the first time in 2011, according to TBIvision publisher Informa Telecoms & Media.

It says that the number of in-home connected devices will rocket from 229 million in 2010 to 1.8 billion in 2016 and connected TVs will be a key driver.

Until this year games consoles accounted for the largest number of connected devices sold, but that will change this year as the current generation of consoles comes to the end of their life cycles.

Informa notes that, unlike the console market, sales of connected TVs will be driven by suppliers not consumers and connectivity is increasingly becoming standard whereas it has previously been a premium feature.

While sales of connected TVs will outstrip that of consoles this year, the installed base of connected TVs will not overtake that of consoles until 2013.

Informa forecasts suggest that by end-2013 there will be 305.6 million connected TVs in homes compared with 208.8 million consoles. However, connected TV connection rates will lag that of consoles for some time, partially because console buyers tend to be more tech savvy and willing and able to use their device to connect to the Internet.