Smart TVs have evolved over time with superior display technologies and are capable of running various tasks with ease such as running multiple OTT platforms and apps. 91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences. With the final data in our hands, here’s a summary curated from the final survey data for you to look at.
Table of Contents
Trends in TV ownership
Samsung and Sony have a stronghold of the TV market
- When it comes to smart TV ownership, Samsung sits right at the top with 18.1 percent of survey participants claiming to own a Samsung TV.
- Sony trails closely behind Samsung with 16.2 percent share, followed by LG at 15.4 percent.
- Xiaomi also carries a good TV user base among the survey participants at 10.5 percent. TCL, VU, Panasonic, Thomson, and others also market their presence in ownership share.
Sony expected to see a significant increase in new TV buyers
- Sony is expected to witness an increase in buyers as 27 percent of participants say they plan to opt for a Sony TV next.
- 18.6 percent of participants claim to purchase a Samsung TV when buying a new smart TV.
- LG and Xiaomi could also see an inflow of new TV buyers at 13.9 percent and 11.7 percent expected growth, respectively.
Sony has the most loyal users, followed by Hisense and Xiaomi
- Sony has the most loyal user base among the survey respondents as 66.3 percent of its users are likely to purchase a Sony TV again.
- Thanks to great value-for-money TV offerings, Hisense, Xiaomi, and Acer also seem to enjoy a certain level of brand loyalty
- 45.5 percent of Motorola users and 44.6 percent of Samsung users are expected to purchase a TV from the same brand.
Sony users would switch to Samsung TVs over LG and Mi
- 9.9 percent of Sony TV owners among the survey participants plan to get a Samsung TV over LG and Xiaomi TVs.
- For current Samsung TV owners Sony, LG and Xiaomi are the top choices for a new television
- Around 20 percent of LG users claimed they would get a Sony TV followed by Samsung and Xiaomi next.
Aspects that matter most while purchasing a new TV
Picture quality is of utmost importance when buying a new TV
- Since the display is a crucial part of a TV, more than half of the survey participants prioritise picture quality over other aspects of a new TV.
- Around 25 percent of the participants wish to see a slew of smart features on their next TV.
- Screen size, sound quality, and connectivity options are other aspects that matter the most to a certain group of people.
User interface and navigation controls matter to a majority of people
- 67.2 percent of survey respondents claim that aspects like good user interface and navigation controls are very important to them on a TV.
- About 17 percent of TV users among the survey takers don’t prioritise aspects like user interface and navigation controls but it’s still a factor they look for.
- 10 percent are in the ballpark of giving importance to user interface and navigation controls while the other 5 percent don’t consider these factors on a TV.
Display technology plays a major role when evaluating a TV’s display
- More than 75 percent of survey takers carefully evaluate the display technology on a new TV. These days, TVs come with OLED, QLED, FALD, and other display technologies.
- Surprisingly, the display size is an aspect that matters to only a few people when purchasing a new TV.
- The display’s refresh rate is not given much of a priority as compared to other aspects of a display.
Android TV is the most popular and preferred TV operating system
- About 36 percent of people taking the survey currently own an Android TV-powered smart TV.
- Many smart TVs also run on Google TV which accounts for 18.9 percent of ownership among TV owners. For the uninitiated, Google TV is a newer version of Android TV that aims to deliver improved recommendations based on a user’s viewing habits.
- A good chunk of participants have a TV from LG, Samsung, and Xiaomi that run proprietary OS such as WebOS, Tizen, and PatchWall respectively.
- Almost 44 percent of people wish to get a TV that runs on Android TV followed by Google TV, WebOS, and Tizen when the right time comes.
Display enhancing features are the most sought aspects of a new TV
- Most smart TVs pack in new-age features to improve viewers’ experience. Our survey found that 67 percent of people want imaging technology like Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ on their next TV.
- Audio features like Dolby Atmos (12%) and voice control (many) are also desired.
- The rest aren’t interested in new features or want something different.
How people prefer to purchase a new Smart TV
Most people currently own a TV under Rs 30,000
- Close to about three-fourths of the survey participants currently own a sub-Rs 30,000 TV.
- The Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 TV segment also has a decent of buyers while the Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 accounts for just 6.7 percent of buyers among the respondents.
- The premium TV segment of Rs 1,00,000 and above barely has any buyers, per the final survey data.
32-inch is the most popular TV screen size
- Just over 50 percent of the survey takers have a TV with 32-inch screen size or lower. These days many high-end features are easily found on affordable smart TVs such as 4K display resolution and voice assistant.
- The second most popular TV screen size is 43-inch with 23.3 percent of respondents claiming to have one.
- Interestingly, it appears that more people own 55-inch TVs as compared to 40-inch and 50-inch TVs.
TVs with 55-inch screen size are sought the most
- A decently large chunk of people wish to get a TV with a screen size between 50-inches and 55-inches.
- Only 12.4 percent of the survey takers would like a screen size of 65-inch or above on their next TV.
- Some users prefer a screen size of 32 inches or lower for their next TV purchase.
EMIs play a significant role when purchasing a new TV
- When it comes to making payment for a newly purchased TV, a decently large chunk of survey takers claim that they would pay the full amount upfront.
- A similar chunk of respondents claim that they would opt for monthly instalments to make the payment for a brand-new TV.
35 to 44 year olds prefer EMIs the most for TV purchases
- Among the survey participants, fifty percent of the audience would prefer to buy a new TV on EMI through debit or credit cards. These also happen to be the people aged between 35 to 44 years.
- 32.6 percent of people between 25 and 34 years claim to buy a TV using bank debit or credit cards.
- Both these and other age groups are also willing to use cardless EMI services such as Bajaj Finserv and ZestMoney. The percent share is more or less similar to that of card EMIs.
Offline channels are preferred more when shopping for a TV
- When the price of a TV of choice is the same offline and online, 43.5 percent lean towards offline purchase channels. Others either opt for online channels or are not sure about their buying decision.
- However, in case the price of a TV is Rs 1,000 less online, almost half of the survey respondents would buy a TV from e-commerce platforms. Interestingly, many would still go to offline shops to experience and buy TVs.
- 46.9 percent of participants are willing to buy a preferred TV if its price is Rs 1,000 less in offline stores.
