A TV has become a gateway to access and enjoy all the exciting movies and shows being pushed out to OTT platforms. Being powered by dedicated operating systems, TVs go beyond just showing content and enable users to run apps on a vast display. Keeping this in mind, 91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about their buying preferences and the various aspects they look at before purchasing a TV. With the final data in our hands, here are some insights from the survey.
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Picture quality is of utmost importance when buying a new TV
- When purchasing a new TV, more than half of the survey participants prioritise picture quality. This is a given as the display experience is the most crucial part of a 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. Such aspects enable the users to easily locate their favourite apps and content.
- About 17 percent of TV users among the survey takers are not necessarily bothered about the user interface and navigation controls their TV comes with but it’s an aspect they would look at before purchasing a TV.
- Out of the remaining participants, 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
- Considering a TV is all about the display, more than 75 percent of survey takers carefully evaluate the display technology when looking to purchase a new TV. These days, one can find several display technologies on TVs namely OLED, QLED, FALD, and others.
- Surprisingly, the display size is an aspect that matters to only a few people when purchasing a new TV.
- Similarly, the importance given to the display’s refresh rate seems to be on the lower end. This could be because there’s not much content available to watch that can go above the refresh rates of 60Hz unless you’re into gaming.
Android TV is the most popular and preferred TV operating system
- Since most smart TVs run on an operating system, just like a smartphone and laptop, 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
- To enhance the viewer’s experience in an all-round fashion, most smart TV manufacturers pack in certain new-age features. Of such features, 67 percent of TV owners wish to have premium imaging technology like Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ on their next TV.
- Close to about 12 percent of TV watchers seek audio amplification technologies such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Similarly, many are in favour of having a Far Field microphone to control the TV without using a remote.
- The remaining survey participants are either not interested in new-age features or seek something entirely different on the TV they get in the future.
