Connected Consumer Tuned In to TVs in Q4

The fourth quarter largely saw a continuation of newteevee trends from the third quarter and before: growing consumption of online video, further development of TV Everywhere initiatives, villanization of Redbox by the Hollywood studios, and funding on the rise.

One of the biggest news items for the quarter was the announcement of Comcast's acquisition of NBC from GE. The joint venture was officially announced in early December after the parties agreed upon a price of $30 billion for a 51 percent stake in NBC. Hardware manufacturers were gearing up for holiday shopping and cashing in during the fourth quarter. HDTVs were the big consumer electronics item for the holiday shopping season. According to research from Retrevo, 30 percent of Black Friday shoppers were looking to buy a new TV, compared to 22 percent buying a computer and 14 percent buying GPS and Blu-ray devices.

Roku also rocked Black Friday shopping with a half-off sale on its high-end HD-XR (regularly priced $129.99, discounted to $64.99 for Black Friday). Only 500 devices were available at the low price point and Roku sold out of the discounted boxes within 20 minutes of opening sales on Black Friday. The success of the Roku Black Friday sale, aside from being an excellent deal on a newly launched product, is an indicator of the growing popularity of online video viewing.