Technology is bringing about a sea-change in the way we consume content. We are lost without our Smartphones or notebooks or tablets. And, the biggest reason of course is because they keep us connected and social.
For nearly 2 decades, Televisions have been our primary device to consume Entertainment, Sports and Information based content. The growth in number of TV channels has been astounding over past 15 years. We literally have close to 300 channels being aired on TV’s across India.
However, Televisions were never connected – They operated only in one way – I show, you watch.
But with new age TVs getting smarter and connected, that is going to change. A study conducted by 6wresearch also points to that fact.
Smart TV growth in India
According to 6Wresearch, Indian Smart TV Market is expected to reach Rs. 54000 crores (USD $10.41 billion) by 2017, growing at a CAGR of 87.02% from 2012-2017. Although Smart TV market is miniscule currently (India smart TV market was valued at $0.22 billion in 2011) the growth is expected to be exponential over next few years.
The report states that, Indian Consumer’s demand for multi-functional services, on-going TV network digitization and increasing internet penetration is helping Indian Smart TV Market, which is expected to ship 9.86 million units of smart TVs in 2017, at a CAGR of 109.93% from 2012-2017.
In 2011, Smart TVs in India accounted for less than 5.0% of the total flat TVs unit shipments and the same is expected to cross 50% market share bye 2017.
The report points out “Lack of awareness” as the major issue that Industry needs to address with Smart TVs. Even retailers are unaware of the basic features of the Smart TVs that they sell, and hence are unable to educate consumers about the benefits of Smart TVs. This issue, if not resolved can become a major hurdle for the market.
My Personal Opinion
Incidentally, I bought a Samsung Smart TV couple of weeks back – and I do not have any doubt that Smart Televisions are going to be our primary way to consume (all types of) content going forward.
Given that only Televisions have capacity to beam immersive content on large screens, they will be our go-to devices for nearly all multimedia content. For example, the Samsung Smart TV that have I have has a app store which has over 1000 apps at my disposal to extent the functionality of the TV.
The Smart TV at my home is wirelessly connected on my Wi-Fi network and apps like “All Share” aggregate all the content from my device wirelessly (from Laptop, my phone etc) and shows it on the TV seamlessly. Watching multimedia on a 42 inch LED HDTV is such a pleasure that no device can match the pleasure one derives out of it.
There is no doubt that Smart TVs are going to become a norm in coming years.
The calculation of Indian Smart TV Market syas that, according to 6Wresearch, Indian Smart TV Market is expected to reach Rs. 54000 crores (USD $10.41 billion) by 2017, growing at a CAGR of 87.02% from 2012-2017. Although Smart TV market is miniscule currently (India smart TV market was valued at $0.22 billion in 2011) the growth is expected to be exponential over next few years.It is a good news for business investor in India.
Now, Micromax jumps into TV market so it is interesting to see what make it differance in TV prices