According to Philips’ TV Division TP Philips, at least 50% of all television sets sold this year (2015) will be smart televisions. To that end, the company last year made a bold move becoming one of the first TV makers to adopt Google’s Android TV wholesale. The company is not looking back as it is banking on Google’s Android to be the platform that provides buyers of its TV sets not just video on demand which is increasingly popular but games as well.
TP Vision’s TV sets are able to connect to the Google Play Store and access the many games available on Google’s platform. Phillips is also partnering with Gameloft and EA Games to provide their top gaming titles. This eliminates dependency on gaming consoles.
As of 2013 over half of the TV viewing audience in the United Kingdom was using video-on-demand services with projections putting Germany’s tally at just above 30% this year meaning there’s more room for growth. Uptake of video-on-demand is particularly popular with users who are already very active on the internet in emerging markets with up to 21% of internet users in India subscribing to a VOD service in the first quarter of 2014 according to data released by Statista. Brazil, another emerging market stood at 32%. In the more advanced markets, Nielsen’s data shows that in the US (home of HBO and Netflix) up to 60% of the households have subscribed to a video-on-demand service. It is such services that are driving sales of smart televisions around the world. Add-ons like gaming are particularly attractive to the young and will soon be key in how users determine purchases.
Sony’s smart televisions will also all be powered by Android TV while LG sticks with its own WebOS and Samsung stands by Tizen.
