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Annual shipments of televisions with wireless Web connectivity will jump at least fivefold over the next two years as technological advances shrink the cost of adding the feature, according to a report released today. Television manufacturers will ship about 20 million wireless-networked TVs globally in 2011, ABI Research said today. That year, wireless-networked TVs will account for about 11% of total flat-screen shipments, up from about 2% this year, said Michael Inouye, industry analyst with ABI. The expected jump in Web-connected home-entertainment components reflects both falling TV prices as well as an expanding amount of television and film content available for either downloading or video-streaming from companies such as Netflix, Blockbuster and Amazon.com. Last month, Boston-based research firm Yankee Group estimated that annual sales of Web-connected TVs would surge to about 50 million in 2013 from about 6 million this year, with next year's Super Bowl being a key demand catalyst. "There are a wide range of expectations for this facet of the market, and most consider the 2009 holiday season into 2010 as the critical period to gauge its potential," said Inouye, adding that manufacturers have spent little to promote wireless-networked TVs. Although the cost of making a television network-accessible is "relatively low," adding the software necessary for wi-fi connectivity could add as much as $100 in costs per television, according to Inouye. Consumers will spend about $2.9 billion on video content that's streamed from the Internet to TVs in 2013, up from about $600 million this year, research firm In-Stat said in a report in May. By that year, about 24 million broadband-connected households will regularly watch online videos on their TVs, up from about 2.5 million this year, according to In-Stat, which is a sister company of Video Business.
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