Smart TVs Must Prioritize Consumer Experience to Stay Relevant

Consumer research by TiVo confirms that while pristine audio and visuals are essential, they're not enough to keep people fully satisfied with their smart TVs. Consumer experience is equally crucial. Consumers are placing more and more focus on getting the same seamless and intuitive experience from smart TVs that they enjoy with other smart devices. While there's still room for improvement, this presents a remarkable opportunity for smart TV manufacturers to steal a march on the competition by evolving to meet these growing demands.

Consumers Crave an Enhanced Smart TV Experience

Smart TV users want an enhanced entertainment experience. The recent TiVo consumer survey shows that 45% of consumers find searching for content to be time-consuming, with the average consumer spending almost five full days per year searching for content, a phenomenon known as 'doom streaming.' However, this growing frustration presents a unique opportunity for smart TV manufacturers to stand out by incorporating advanced user interfaces that streamline content discovery and make viewing faster and more convenient for consumers.

Many smart TV users also believe they mistakenly purchase content that they have free access to elsewhere from time to time. On average over the course of a lifetime (defined as 60 years) consumers are wasting $1,720.20 on content that they actually have free access to. By improving the smart TV search experience, manufacturers can provide even more value to customers, not just in terms of the quality of the entertainment, but also in terms of the overall amount they spend on content.

Consumer Experience Influences Smart TV Consumer Decisions

The research by TiVo found that 33% of consumers deem an easy-to-use interface the most influential factor when purchasing a smart TV. This is on par with the 33% that prioritize TV specifications. Consumer experience is clearly as important to consumers as screen resolution, audio quality, and other TV specifications. In fact, only value for money proves more influential than user experience when it comes to consumers' priorities.

TiVo also found that 91% of consumers cited ease of use as the single most important consideration driving their choice of smart TV. This means that smart TV manufacturers can gain a critical edge by transforming the operating systems (OS) of their products to enhance the user experience across the screen.

Two Paths to a Better Smart TV User Experience

Smart TV manufacturers can travel one of two paths to enhance the smart TV consumer experience: building a custom OS or buying a third-party OS from a specialist provider.

Building a custom OS gives manufacturers more control over their brand, content, and consumer experience. Manufacturers that develop a custom OS have the potential to tailor every element of their product's interface, creating a unique user experience designed specifically for their target audience. However, building a custom OS demands considerable time, effort, and technical expertise, making it a substantial investment.

Manufacturers who integrate a third-party OS from a specialist provider choose a less resource-intensive route. Buying an OS, rather than building it, helps manufacturers harness the power of proven systems that are optimized for performance and consumer satisfaction. By partnering with experienced OS providers, manufacturers also benefit from ongoing updates and improvements to the OS without having to shoulder the burden of software development.

Smart TV Manufacturers at a Crossroads

When it comes to improving user experience, smart TV manufacturers are at a crossroads. They must make a critical choice - to build or buy their OS. Regardless which option they choose, an underlying commitment to top-of-line user experience can guide this strategic decision, inspiring manufacturers to innovate aggressively so that smart TVs can become one of the most sophisticated classes of smart devices on the market.

The future of smart TVs is consumer-centric. In an industry where technology is in flux, the one constant is that the ultimate judgement of success is always the consumer. Consumers clearly desire a more streamlined user experience from their smart TVs. Forward thinking smart TV manufacturers can seize this wonderful opportunity and place an increasing focus on user experience to satisfy customers and expand their understanding of what is possible with modern smart TVs.