Worldwide Smart TV demand continues to grow - CNET

Nearly half of all worldwide shipments of TV sets in Q4 2015 were smart TVs according to analysis by IHS.

Web-coected smart TVs giving you direct access to over-the-top (OTT) streaming services such as Netflix made up 48.5 percent of shipments or 34.2 million. IHS expects smart TV shipments to hit 109 million in 2016, growing to 134 million in 2020.

According to a statement by IHS Technology Principal Analyst Paul Gray, smart functions are increasingly considered essential, which has created a shift to a self-sustaining demand for built-in inteet streaming capabilities.

Most of the demand was in China, where more 75 percent of televisions shipped last year were coected. Popularity in North America also increased from 36 to 48 percent. Demand throughout the rest of the world was mixed, plateauing in Japan and Europe, but increasing in Latin America.