It is not a new phenomenon – TVs are sold because the salesman recommends them and pushes customers towards them – not because the consumer has any idea of what it is they do. This week a report from US video infrastructure providers Snell Advanced Media (SAM), makes it clear this is going on with 4K TVs in the US.
It is a bit laughable. TV manufacturers the world over, spend absolute $billions trying to differentiate their TV sets, and explore and invade 4K technology, and that differentiation is lost on the consumer.
The research for this report was carried out over the internet in the US by UK based researcher YouGov for SAM, and it found that 64% of Americans have now idea what 4K is all about. We’ve been trying for almost two years to get everyone to understand about a broader color gamut and High Dynamic Range – so those are certainly not on the agenda of the average TV purchaser.
In fact, Millennials (18-24) are the most likely to know what 4K is but that’s only 29% of them, under a third. Faultline will go further and make a bet that if half of our industry (yes us techies) were forced to watch a TV program on a 4K box, only a handful would know the difference between 4K and HD content and even less could tell if it was HDR.
Only 17% of US respondents were confident of what 4K is and just 11% of US adults say they currently own a 4K TV, but half of these do not yet find it worthwhile or understand what it does. The survey also then told them what a 4K TV was, and after this explanation, then 41% wanted one.
Earlier this month the Consumer Technology Association in the US said at CES, that 4k TVs would ship 15.6 million units in 2017 (about 15% of the whole country) a rise of about 50% year on year (so 2016 perhaps 7.5% of homes bought one).
“At SAM, we frequently survey consumer sentiment to help us better understand the relationship between our customers and their audience. It was evident from our research that even though 4K is a huge industry buzzword, and something many broadcasters have already begun preparing to deliver to consumers, most Americans don’t quite know what that entails. The knowledge gap between broadcaster and customer revealed by our research goes to show that finding the right formula to deliver and implement a winning 4K strategy is the key to broadcasters’ success,” said Neil Maycock, EVP & General Manager, Media Software Solutions at SAM. The YouGov survey took in 1,146 adults and questionnaires were filled in last June.