A big TV war is set to break out in Australia as both retailers and manufacturers chase higher returns from large screen panels. It has also been revealed that Australians are taking to a new generation of Smart TVs.Sharp, who has already launched a 70″ TV, is set to launch an 80″ TV this month according to Marketing Manager Mark Beard. Samsung is planning to launch a $10,000 75″ TV that comes with new Smart TV capability. LG is sticking to a new generation OLED TV to win over consumers.
A recent survey reveals that Smart TV technology is starting to take off in Australia as consumers move to get delivery of movies via their Internet enabled TV.
According to research Company Nielsen, consumers are switching to Smart TVs because of the extra functionality that the new IPTV enabled models deliver.
As of February 2011, only 4.7 percent of homes had a smart TV. That number has more than doubled in 2012.
“It’s not a decline; it is a change in device,” said Pat McDonough Nielsen’s SVP for Insights Analysis and Policy. “We are still on the internet when we are watching television but we are using this different device to do it. People are talking about computer use going down. Perhaps the device is changing but the pattern of media consumption is not changing.”
“About a third of consumers who are buying a new TV are hooking them up,” said McDonough. “It’s not that we are not interested; we already have internet on [television sets]. Think about it, you’re getting it through your Blu-ray player. Half of us have video games attached to those sets. Many of them are on our wireless networks already.
The research revealed that the use of applications on Smart TVs has jumped In October 2011, only two percent of households had the internet function enabled through their IPTV. As of 2012, the number rose to five percent in internet-enabled homes.
According to a Nielsen consumer confidence survey, twenty-three percent of consumers surveyed said they would spend spare cash on new technology products, down five points from Q1 (down one point from Q2 2011), and 28 percent of respondents indicated they would spend spare cash on out-of-home entertainment, down four points from Q1 (down one point from Q2 2011).
