February 28, 2018

Sales Record: Six Million Smart TVs Sold in Germany

Frankfurt, February 28, 2018.

• In 2017, 6.0 million smart devices (TV, set-top boxes, video players and recorders) were sold for the first time – plus nine percent over the previous year (2016: 5.5 million)
• 9 million smart televisions sold – ten percent more than in 2016 (4.4 million)
• Share of smart TVs across the entire panel market rises to 69 percent (2016: 64 percent)
• Over 85 percent of smart TVs equipped with HbbTV
• Since 2004, 36.6 million smart devices have been sold in Germany
• Event on Smart Media in the networked home on April 25, 2018 in Hamburg
• Infographics on the numbers: http://tv-plattform.de/de/service/publikationen/mediendownloads

Never before have so many smart devices for media use been sold to households in Germany as they were last year. According to GfK Retail & Technology, a total of 6.0 million Internet-capable TV sets, set-top boxes, video players and recorders with smart functions were sold in 2017. This corresponds to an increase of nine percent over the previous year (2016: 5.5 million). The lion’s share was accounted for by 4.9 million units sold (2016: 4.4 million) on smart TV sets. Compared to the total number of televisions sold (7.0 million), more than two-thirds of televisions (69 per cent) were equipped with smart services in 2017 – i.e. five percent more than in the previous year (2016: 64 per cent). The vast majority of internet-enabled televisions are not only “smart” via apps and browsers, but also support the interactive broadcasting standard HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV); more than 85 percent of the devices sold in 2017 make it possible to call up additional information and offers via the “red button” of the remote control. In total, around 36.6 million smart devices have been sold in Germany since 2004, of which 29.1 million are TV sets.

Andre Prahl, CEO of the German TV Platform: “In addition to linear television, on-demand offers such as media libraries or streaming are fixed assets in the media usage mix of viewers. The sales figures of the smart devices reflect this very well. The increasing market penetration of internet-capable devices is improving the basis for broadcasters to expand or launch innovative services. Through internet-connection and personalization, our lives also become “smarter” overall. In this context, media use in the connected home is one of the key topics for the German TV Platform this year. ”

Event announcement for journalists:

On April 25, 2018, the German TV platform organizes an event in Hamburg on the theme: “Smarter Life, Smarter Television! How big data and digital assistants are changing our media usage”.  With experts from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, we shed light on how digital assistants change our lives, which devices and systems will control our home in the future, and what role big data, personalized television and addressable TV play in this context. The complete program can be found in the German TV Platform website. For further information and to register for the event, please use the contact details below.

 

Contact for media

Stefan Vollmer

Media and public relations

German TV platform

Tel. +49 151 22 67686969

vollmer@tv-plattform.de

www.tv-plattform.de

 

About the German TV Platform

The German TV Platform is an Association of around 50 private and public broadcasters, device manufacturers, infrastructure operators, service and technology providers, research institutes and universities, federal and state authorities and other companies, associations and institutions dealing with digital media. The aim of the Association, since its foundation in 1990, is the introduction of digital technologies based on open standards. In the working groups of the German TV Platform, representatives from almost all areas of the media industry and consumer electronics are involved in setting the course for key issues in digital broadcasting.