Smart TV advertising gains relevance

Special smart TV advertising is therefore not only gaining in importance, it is also being received positively by consumers. These are the key findings of the latest "Smart TV Effects" study by digital marketer Tomorrow Focus Media, which surveyed a total of 5166 TV owners in its network in February 2014. The majority of consumers are now technically up-to-date. The study shows that around 41% of respondents own a TV that is less than two years old. In addition to the screen size, the integrated internet function was also a decisive factor for 13% when purchasing a TV set. The number of smart TV owners has thus risen from 23% in the previous year to 26% today. The market for smart TVs is therefore far from exhausted; 32% of current non-owners are planning to buy a smart TV in the next twelve months.

One in four smart TV owners (25.1%) now also actively use the device to go online - a significant increase on last year, when only one in five (20.4%) did so. Another finding of the study: those who actively go online with their smart TV today do so regularly. More than half of the respondents who use their smart TV to actively go online do so several times a week or even daily (53.5%). The peak of Internet use via smart TV during the day is reached in prime time between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. - regardless of the day of the week.

The TV's internet function is used particularly frequently to watch videos or use the TV channels' media libraries. However, around 43% of respondents now also use the available smart TV apps; this represents an increase of 14% compared to the previous year. News, weather and program apps are particularly popular, followed by entertainment apps, photo and video apps and social TV apps. The latter in particular have become more popular compared to the previous year (+7%).

Around one in three smart TV owners use their TV's internet functions primarily to catch up on missed programs (30%). 27% switch to the Internet when they are not interested in the TV program. One in five respondents (22%) switch to the Internet to watch special films that are not shown in the program. And just under 15 percent use the internet on their smart TV, especially during commercial breaks. However, they are by no means lost to the advertising efforts there: 41% of active internet users can remember having seen advertising in the smart TV apps (previous year: 35%). Video advertising is particularly memorable (63%), but around one in three users also remember standard banners and animated banners (35% each).

Twenty-five percent of smart app users have already clicked on advertising within the smart app - more than half of them (58%) because they were interested in the advertised product, while 27% felt motivated to click by the design of the advertising. However, the positive assessment of this relatively new form of advertising is particularly interesting: around 61% of respondents think it is generally okay for free apps to be financed by advertising. One in three (35%) find advertising in smart apps less annoying than in TV programs, and as many as 14% state that they have already become aware of interesting products and offers more frequently through advertising in smart apps. The targeted combination of traditional TV advertising and smart TV advertising therefore appears to be a very promising model for the future.

Clemens Koob

Key Facts

- More than a quarter of respondents now own a smart TV.
- A further 32% are planning to buy a smart TV in the coming year.
- One in four smart TV owners go online with their device - 31% of active users access the Internet via TV several times a week, 26% even daily.
- Almost every second smart TV user also uses smart TV apps.
- Advertising in smart TV apps attracts attention: 41% of users of smart TV apps notice the advertising placed there.
- 25 percent have already clicked on advertising in the Smart TV app.