While 4K creeps into the TV market, HDTV has clearly flooded it. About 80% of U.S. homes now have HDTV sets, and 52% of them have more than one, Leichtman Research Group found in a new study.
By comparison, 46% of U.S. households had at least one HDTV five years ago, and 17% of households had more than one HDTV.
Among other findings, LRG said about 75% of TV sets used in HD households are HDTVs. Factoring in non-HDTV households, 65% of all television sets used in US households are HDTVs – up from 24% in 2009, and 3% in 2004.
And HDTV homes continue to gravitate to pay-TV services. LRG, which based its findings on a survey of 1,231 U.S. homes, found that 89% of HDTV homes and 91% of multi-HDTV homes subscribe to a pay-TV service, versus 67% of non-HDTV homes.
Awareness of 4K, meanwhile, is on the rise, as LRG found that 41% of adults have heard of 4K/Ultra HD, up from 30% last year. And seeing is believing -- 26% of those surveyed who had seen a 4K TV are interested in getting one, versus 6% of those who had not seen one. Strategy Analytics is forecasting that nearly half of U.S. homes will have a 4K TV by 2020.
About 11% of all TVs used in U.S. homes are connected smart TVs, LRG said, noting that 24% of all homes purchased a TV set in the past year – an annual level that has been at 20% or above for the past 11 years (this is LRG's 12th annual study on the HDTV topic).
“While HDTV now seems commonplace in the US, much of the growth of HD has come in recent years,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, in a statement. “Over the past five years, more than one-third of all US households got their first HDTV, and HDTV’s share of TV sets used in US households grew from about 24% to 65%.”
