According to the NPD Group, year over year, the number of U.S. Internet homes with an installed connected TV device increased by six million, now totaling 60% of U.S. Internet homes. As the number of connected TV homes continues to grow, the devices used to make those connections have shifted. In January, streaming media players were the most commonly installed Internet-connected TV device. Some 35% of U.S. Internet homes now have a streaming media player, up from 29% last year.

"The average connected home has three devices installed and able to deliver apps to their TVs, but the mix of those devices continues to change," said John Buffone, executive director, industry analyst, NPD Connected Intelligence. "Shifts are also occurring in the industry as TV manufacturers migrate to operating systems from Roku, Amazon and Google. This benefits content owners, as they can reach a larger audience through distribution on fewer platforms, and viewers, as they'll be able to find more of the programming they want in a single location."

Streaming media players also generated the highest incidence of usage for most of the top video apps, including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. According to NPD, while all of the top subscription video services saw increased incidence of usage on connected TVs and attached devices, Amazon Prime Video experienced increased usage among all demographics and on all connected TV platforms from January 2016 to January 2017. In the same timeframe, Hulu's incidence of use on a connected TV device saw the highest percentage of growth when compared to other services.

"As consumers decide which devices to use and apps to leverage for content, original and exclusive programming are likely to be key drivers," said Buffone. "Industry leaders like Amazon, Netflix and others will continue to put increased investments into these programs in order to drive demand and viewer engagement."

The results of the NPD Group Connected Intelligence Connected Home Entertainment and Application & Convergence Reports are based on consumer panel research that reached 5,350 U.S. consumers, aged 18+ from diverse regions and demographical backgrounds. They reported on over 12,000 TVs installed within 34,000 household rooms. This survey was fielded from January 26 through February 9, 2017. The trend is compared to the Q1 2016 survey, which was fielded during a similar period last year.