80% of U.S. TV households have at least one Connected TV device

40% of all Adults in TV Households Watch Video on a TV via a Connected Device Daily

DURHAM, NH — New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) finds that 80% of U.S. TV households have at least one Internet-connected TV device, including connected Smart TVs, stand-alone streaming devices (like Roku, Amazon Fire TV stick or set-top box, Chromecast, or Apple TV), connected video game systems, and/or connected Blu-ray players. This is an increase from 74% with at least one connected TV device in 2018, 57% in 2015, and 24% in 2010.

Overall, 40% of adults in U.S. TV households watch video on a TV via a connected device daily – compared to 29% in 2018, 12% in 2015, and 1% in 2010. Older individuals use connected TV devices less often than others. Among all adults ages 55+, 18% watch video on a TV via a connected device daily – compared to 48% of ages 35-54 and 55% of ages 18-34.

These findings are based on a survey of about 2,000 TV households in the U.S., and are part of a new LRG study, Connected and 4K TVs 2020. This is LRG’s seventeenth annual study on TVs in the U.S.

Other findings include:

• Among those with any connected TV device, 64% have three or more devices – with a mean of 4.1 devices per connected TV household
• 58% of TV households have at least one connected Smart TV – up from 47% in 2018, 22% in 2015, and 8% in 2010
• 56% of TV households have at least one stand-alone streaming device – up from 46% in 2018, 23% in 2015, and 3% in 2011
• On a daily basis, 25% of adults watch video on a TV via a stand-alone device, 20% via an Internet-enabled Smart TV app, 11% via a connected game system, and 3% via a connected Blu-ray player
• 62% of 4K HDTV owners agree (8-10) that the picture quality makes everything look better, even when not watching 4K content, while 6% disagree (1-3)

“The data in this study indicate that there are now nearly 400 million connected TV devices in U.S. TV households. This is an increase from about 250 million connected TV devices in 2016. And these totals do not even include pay-TV set-top boxes that can be used to access content from the Internet,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Along with this increase in the number of devices, the percent of adults in the U.S. using these connected devices to watch video on a TV each day has more than doubled—growing from nineteen to forty percent—in just the past four years.”