Can smart TV break the prediction of “TV will die”?

The widespread popularity of the Internet has brought a huge impact on the television industry. More and more users tend to choose to watch video content through the Internet, while the TV power-on rate has dropped significantly. Even some senior TV media professionals have had to pessimistically admit that "TV will die." Televisions seem to be increasingly becoming a lonely decoration in the corner of the living room.

The emergence of smart TVs, a combination of traditional TVs and the Internet, seems to have made this situation possible. Recently, AVC, an authoritative home appliance market research organization, and Zhijing Technology jointly released the "2014 China Smart Large Screen Industry Media Data Report (TV Edition)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The report shows that in recent years, China's smart TV penetration rate, activation rate, user activity, etc. have maintained a rapid growth trend.

Turning the tide, the scale of smart TVs has increased dramatically

The integration of three networks is driving the rapid development and popularization of smart TVs. The report shows that by the end of March 2014, the penetration rate of smart TVs had reached 56%; as TV manufacturers continue to explore operating models, the penetration rate of smart TVs will continue to increase in the future, and is expected to exceed 70% by the end of 2014.

Large-screen TVs are popular

Compared with computers, mobile phones, tablets and other products, a very obvious advantage of TVs is that they have large screens, which are suitable for multiple people to use together. Large size is also a prominent feature of the current smart TV market. Among the top ten screen sizes in the domestic smart TV market, 8 are 40 inches or larger, of which 50 inches accounts for the highest proportion, accounting for 16%. Large-screen TVs of 50 inches and above account for 33% in total, and large-screen TVs are widely welcomed by home users.

Developed regions become the main market for smart TV sales

From the perspective of the sales channel share of smart TVs, Shanghai ranks first in offline retail volume with a share of 3%, followed by Beijing and Guangzhou, accounting for 2.6% and 1.8% respectively; Chongqing and Tianjin are ranked behind, accounting for 1.7% and 1.5% respectively. It can be seen that cities with a high share of smart TV retail volume are mostly distributed in first-tier cities and key second-tier cities. These regions have become the main markets for smart TV sales due to their rapid economic development, high consumption level and strong ability to accept new things.

"Watching TV" becomes "using TV", user activity increases significantly

As a new audio-visual media, smart TV conforms to the trend of new technologies and is the inevitable direction of future development. The operating system it carries is easy to update and upgrade, ensuring a good user experience for users, and also plays a huge role in promoting the continuous improvement of its own activity. The "Report" shows that at the end of 2013, the user activation rate was 77% and the activity rate was 50%; it is expected that the activation rate and activity rate will reach 95% and 85% respectively by 2015. It can be seen that users are increasingly accepting of smart TVs; at the same time, the operability and content of smart TVs have become increasingly mature and complete.

Smart TVs mainly attract young, highly educated, and high-income people, because these people are more likely to accept new things and like to try the pleasure brought by technology. At the same time, when users use smart TV products, they mainly show the following four characteristics:

First, the startup frequency: the average daily frequency on weekdays is mainly concentrated around 1 time, while the startup frequency on weekends and holidays is mainly more than 2 times.

Second, the startup time: From a national perspective, the peak time for smart TV startup is mainly during the prime time period from 20:00 to 22:00, with the highest peak occurring at 22:00.

Third, operating time: 53% of smart TVs are running for more than 2 hours. Specifically, 21% of smart TVs are running for less than 1 hour per day, 26% for 1-2 hours, 20% for 2-3 hours, and 14% for 3-4 hours. It can be seen that as the operating time increases, the distribution ratio of the operating volume decreases.

Fourth, the operating time of smart TVs within 4 hours on weekends and holidays is higher than that on weekdays, while the operating time of more than 4 hours is lower than that on weekdays. This is because people choose to go out flexibly on weekends and holidays, resulting in fragmented TV operating time, so the number of times the TV is turned on is more frequent, and the operating time is lower than that on weekdays. On weekdays, after getting home from get off work, there is a concentrated time period for leisure and entertainment, so the TV will be turned on for a long time to watch programs.

Dong Min, deputy general manager of AVC's black electronics division, said that thanks to the product's own advantages, smart TVs can help manufacturers or advertisers better understand user habits, thereby accurately placing advertisements and improving user experience. In the future, smart TVs will have great potential to become the protagonist of the living room, acting as the control center of smart homes, and will be a "hot commodity" that advertisers will compete for.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.