BOSTON, Mass.—Consumers continue to rapidly embrace advanced TV technologies, which in turn is transforming both viewer habits and the business opportunities for content providers and advertisers, according to Hub Entertainment Research’s fourth annual “Evolution of the TV Set” study. 

One notable finding of the survey and report is that the speed with which consumers are turning to streaming using smart TVs continues to impress. Almost two thirds (62%) of TV homes report streaming using a smart TV, compared with less than half (47%) two years ago, the Hub survey found. This rapid increase is driven by increases in both smart TV homes and in the share of those homes using smart TVs to stream.

Another technology being rapidly adopted is voice control. Half (51%) of the most-used sets in U.S. homes have a remote control with voice command capability – up notably since 2020 (38%), Hub reported. 

In homes with a smart TV, one in three (33%) linked a smart TV to a smart speaker like Amazon’s Echo or Google’s Nest, enabling voice control – up a third from 2020 (25%).

Another notable trend is the use of TV sets for activities other than viewing TV programs or movies. In smart TV homes, 7 in 10 (73%) say they use a set for something else – up from 6 in 10 (63%) in 2020, Hub found. 

The most popular non-TV activities on smart TVs are streaming music, mirroring or casting another screen to the set, checking news or weather apps, or using an on-set browser. 

“Streaming on smart TV sets has grabbed the spotlight, but don’t forget other ways TVs have evolved,” said David Tice, senior consultant to Hub and co-author of the study. “With the TV itself becoming an advertising platform, changes in user behaviors from set evolution can impact marketing opportunities, exposure, and effectiveness.”

The findings are from Hub’s “Evolution of the TV Set 2022” report, based on a survey conducted among 2,526 US consumers. Interviews were conducted in May 2022 and cover consumer ownership of, and attitudes towards, TV sets and TV-related technologies.  

A free excerpt of the findings is available on Hub’s website. 

LONDON—The BBC has announced plans to launch its own rival to Alexa next year.

The digital voice assistant will not be a hardware device, but is being designed to work on all smart speakers, TVs and mobile phones.

The assistant will wake when users say the word “Beeb,” although that is currently a working title, the Corporation said.

BBC staff around the U.K. are being invited to record their voices to help train the program to recognize different accents.

According to a BBC spokesman, having its own assistant would enable it to “experiment with new programs, features and experiences without someone else’s permission to build it in a certain way.”

“Much like we did with BBC iPlayer, we want to make sure everyone can benefit from this new technology, and bring people exciting new content, programs and services—in a trusted, easy-to-use way.”

“This marks another step in ensuring public service values can be protected in a voice-enabled future.”

SAN FRANCISCO—How much would you be willing to pay to stop having to dig through your couch to find the TV remote? According to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the cost may actually be more than purchasing a smart speaker to hook up and control the TV.

In its report, “Energy Impacts of Smart Speakers and Video Streaming Devices,” the NRDC does find that most smart speaker (i.e. Amazon’s Alexa) and video streaming devices are energy efficient. Despite being turned on at all times, most only consume $1.50-$4 worth of electricity annually as smart speakersuse less than 2 W of electricity while they are in standby mode waiting for a command, while streaming devices (Roku, Google Chromecast) consume 3 W or less in standby.

But that conservation can be made moot if consumers are linking smart speakers to some TVs to access voice commands. When connected with some newer TVs, pairing a smart speaker with the TV can result in standby mode generating 1 W to more than 20 W, possibly doubling a TV’s overall annual energy use and add about $200 in energy costs over a TV’s lifetime. More broadly, such energy increases could have an impact on the annual national electricity consumption could increase by three to six coal-burning power plants’ worth of electricity. As a result, $1.3 billion to $2.5 billion could be added to U.S. consumers’ electric bills each year with one-fourth or half of TVs connected to smart speakers.

To address this, NRDC says that TV manufacturers must address this problem with updated designs.

“Our report should be a wake-up call for all TV manufacturers to improve their products to support hands-free operation without needlessly sucking massive amounts of energy as the next big energy vampires in our homes,” said Noah Horowitz, co-author of the report and director of NRDC’s Center for Energy Efficient Standards. “Up to $2.5 billion in extra electricity costs would be an appallingly high price for consumers and the environment to pay just to wake our TVs with a voice command.”

The full report is available here.

Next week at CES 2019 we should expect to see a growing number of manufacturers introducing smart-home connectivity into their TVs in the form of voice activation. This latest innovation combines the ease of voice commands for TV control with myriad other functions that expand the television’s abilities by integrating it with the rest of the smart- home ecosystem.

Of course several brands, including Samsung, LG and Sony, already offer the ability to control connected devices in this way. But this we will likely see manufacturers show off some new relationships between their TV brands and the companies behind voice assistant technology, most noticeably Google Assistant software.

Stay up to date with all things CES-related with one-click access to TWICE's CES Hub.

So far, voice assistant technology comes to TVs in two formats. One type offers built-in assistant capabilities, which operate through a voice-enabled remote and do not require a standalone device. The second format does not have voice-assistant technology built into the TV itself, but does allow the user to control the TV through the use of a separate device such as an Amazon Echo. TVs with this format are commonly identified as “compatible with” various voice assistant operating systems, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

In contrast, Amazon formed an exclusive partnership with Best Buy’s private-label Insignia brand and the Hisense-licensed Toshiba badge last year, which limits its prospects for expansion. However, many additional brands are nonetheless compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, including Haier, Hisense, LG, Sony and Vizio. We can expect to see more TVs added to this list this year, and perhaps even an additional player if Roku expands its voice control capabilities beyond the television. As for Samsung, the brand remains content with its proprietary Bixby technology to the exclusion of all others.

What results from the addition of this software is an integrated system that lets TV users speak into a voice-enabled remote to control the TV, as well as conduct any of the other functions available on a standalone virtual assistant device. In practical terms, this turns the television into a giant control center for the smart home at the same time that appliances, home audio, thermostats, security cameras, lighting and many other once-standard household devices are gaining new functions and abilities through the addition of virtual assistant software.

Point is, these smart-home products need some sort of external control source. Traditionally this was accomplished via a mobile app and later with the additional option of voice-controlled smart speakers. Now, with the integration of virtual assistants into the TV itself, the TV has the potential to become the control hub of the smart home, although the industry has yet to establish a need for the television to fulfill this role in the home. The convenience of an always-available smartphone or an always-on voice controlled speaker cannot be overstated, and the TV industry has yet to proffer a compelling reason why the TV is more suitable for this purpose than a smaller device.

The market may have an uphill battle on its hands in this regard, although TV manufacturers will be doing their best to drown out any doubts at CES.