By Stuart Thomson
Consumers have a growing appetite for IoT and smart home technologies including smart TVs, smart speakers and set-top boxes, according to technology outfit Plume’s latest IQ Smart Home market report.
Globally, the number of smart TVs rose by 22 per cent between the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2022, while smart speakers have increased by 24 per cent – significant growth rates though lower than those for cameras, at 55 per cent and smart doorbells, at 43 per cent.
Year-on-year growth in home hubs amounted to 38 per cent.
Data consumption has also risen by 11 per cent across the Plume Cloud. Data consumption via smart TVs is up by 34 per cent, while that via speakers is up by 27 per cent. Growth in data consumption via set-top boxes meanwhile lags somewhat but is still up by 7 per cent.
The use of media players such as iPods, Blu-ray, and home cinema receivers, however, has decreased by 14 per cent, indicating a preference by consumers for streaming video services using smart TVs or set-top boxes.
The same trend can be seen in the average hours of device use per day, as smart TVs’ busy hours have increased by 27 per cent while media players’ busy hours have decreased by 20 per cent, according to Plume.
Plume found that the global average number of connected devices per home now standing at 17.1, up 10 per cent from 15.5 in the first half of 2021.
It found that the biggest change is in Europe, where the average number of devices per Plume household jumped by 13 per cent, from 15.4 to 17.4.
Smartphones remain the most popular device in Plume-powered homes, averaging over six per household across all locations, including guest devices that are allowed access to the network. Plume-powered homes in the US meanwhile have the highest penetration of connected devices to date, with an average of 20.2 per home.
