Smart TV Home Screens Gain Attention, Influence on Program Discovery

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Smart TVs onscreen navigation/discovery systems are grabbing more attention.

Hub Entertainment Research found 38% of respondents in a survey say their opening smart TV home screens -- with streaming apps -- are the first thing they see when turning on their TV sets.

Another 27% say it's a home screen from an external media play -- for example, Roku, Apple TV+, or a gaming console.

Just 19% say their first screen comes from a traditional pay TV provider -- which might include a specific program in progress or a channel guide.

Ten percent of respondents cite a digital antenna-based system, while another 6% say it comes from “something else.”

When it comes to searching for a program to watch, 50% of the time subscribers head to a specific streamer -- Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, for example -- while another 26% will choose a show or movie that “appears on the TV home screen,” with 24% using an internal smart TV search function.

“Smart TVs strongly influence the apps being used to discover shows,” say the authors of the report. In particular, this influence comes during the initial set-up of smart TV. 

About half of respondents say they installed a new TV streaming app recommended by their smart TV operating system, and because of that, 47% say once that is set up they rarely or never add more streamers.

The study found that 60% of “most used” TV sets are connected to a virtual or “streaming platform” -- up from 40% four years ago. Legacy pay TV providers have dropped to 38% from 52% in 2020. 

The data comes from survey interviews with 2,517 U.S. consumers ages 16-74, conducted in May 2024.