Connected device upsurge ‘changing the face of entertainment’

Editor | 21-06-2012

The growth in connected devices available both inside and outside of the home has driven a shift in content discovery, acquisition and consumption, new research from NPD Group has revealed.

According to its Smart Devices as Content Platforms report, NPD fundamentally believes that growing consumer use of smart devices such as smartphones and tablets, connected video-game consoles, televisions, and Blu-ray Disc players has enabled a profound shift in subscription video, streaming music, and games and other mobile apps.

Specifically, the research found that nearly four-fifths of users who connect their Blu-ray Disc player to access online content download television shows and movies via Hulu, Netflix, and other subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, compared with 69% of connected TV users and 64% connected video game console users. By way of contrast, tablets and smartphones were revealed as less frequent users of SVOD services with nearly a quarter of connected tablet users and about 15% of connected smartphone users currently accessing these services on their devices.

“The growing installed base of Web-connected devices is already having implications for how consumers discover, consume and acquire entertainment content, and for how providers and retailers need to promote entertainment content to consumers,” argued NPD senior vice president of industry analysis Russ Crupnick, commenting on the underlying trends. “Once primarily the domain of tech-savvy young male early adopters, downloading entertainment content to tablets, TVs, and game consoles is now much more common among regular American moms, dads -- and their kids, too.”