North American smart TV shipments up 10.9% in Q1

North American smart TV shipments grew 10.9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017 to 7.72 million units, according to Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The research claims that the figure compares to 6.96 million North American smart TV shipments in Q1 2016, but has “settled down” compared to the 10.81 million shipped in Q4 2016.

According to the report, some 70% of all TVs shipped in North America in 2016 were smart TVs – with these sets becoming more popular as the trend of streaming content via services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime “slowly replace traditional cable subscriptions”.

“Smart TV functionality is available for TVs with a wide range of display sizes, but has been more widely adopted among sets with displays of 40-inches or larger, especially on high-end models which go upwards of 60-inches,” said the study.

“Mid-tier to high-end models also feature 4K resolution and high dynamic range, or HDR, capabilities that provide improved picture quality and an overall better viewing experience.”

In Q1 Samsung led the North American smart TV market, shipping an estimated 2.1 million units into the region. Vizio finished in second place, shipping an estimated 1.6 million smart TVs, followed by LG with 1 million TVs shipped.