64% of Americans don’t know what 4K is Janu

64% of Americans don’t know what 4K is

January 24, 2017

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4k-uhdFindings from a survey commissioned by broadcast technology specialist Snell Advanced Media (SAM) indicate that despite the pressure for broadcasters to invest in 4K technology, some 64 per cent of Americans still don’t know what 4K is.

SAM also found that Millennials are most likely to know exactly what 4K is compared to any other age group, but that still accounts for less than one third of all 18-24 year olds (29 per cent). Given that 4K is touted as the next evolution in image resolution, SAM says it is crucial the knowledge gap between broadcasters and consumers continues to close and the consumer electronics industry embrace an ethos of transparency and education on what to expect in the new era of 4K content.


The study, conducted with third-party research firm YouGov, revealed not only consumer understanding of 4K, but what content Americans are making a point to watch live.

Broadcasters have been preparing for 4K for some time now by upgrading their infrastructure and prepping content for enhanced formats. However, despite their focus on the evolving era of 4K, consumer understanding still lags.

Just 17 per cent of US adults are confident they’ve heard of 4K and know exactly what it is
However, Millennials (18-24) are more familiar with 4K than any other age group, (29 per cent said they knew exactly what 4K was) and a quarter of them (25 per cent) had purposefully watched something in 4K in the past six months
It was no surprise then that just 11 per cent of US adults currently own a 4K TV, with half of those either yet to find it worthwhile or understand what it does
Though 17 per cent of early Millennials (25-34) own a 4K TV, the highest among all age groups
However, once educated on what 4K was, 41 per cent of consumers said they would like to have a 4K TV
“At SAM, we frequently survey consumer sentiment to help us better understand the relationship between our customers and their audience. It was evident from our research that even though 4K is a huge industry buzzword, and something many broadcasters have already begun preparing to deliver to consumers, most Americans don’t quite know what that entails. The knowledge gap between broadcaster and customer revealed by our research goes to show that finding the right formula to deliver and implement a winning 4K strategy is the key to broadcasters’ success,” said Neil Maycock, EVP & General Manager, Media Software Solutions at SAM.

4K is not the only advancement in technology changing the way broadcasters approach content creation and distribution. Increasing consumer reliance on social media and multiple devices or platforms has dramatically influenced the way broadcasters need to approach live coverage, says SAM.

Sports broadcasters are live TV champions

65 per cent of Americans thought a recent high-profile TV event was important enough to watch live. Among them, more Americans made it a priority to watch Super Bowl 50 live (61 per cent) than they did any primary election results (36 per cent)
Three times as many Americans overall watched Super Bowl 50 live than the 2016 Grammys (39 per cent to 13 per cent)
“In particular, sports networks have a significant opportunity to capitalise on the attention they receive from live viewing, as we’ve seen with high profile arrangements like the NFL live streams on Twitter,” Maycock added. “At SAM, we anticipate significant traction on this front over the next year as more sports broadcasters experiment with technology to help them spread the word about live events. We expect to see them making every effort to push live sports content to more channels, faster, all with the quality consumers come to expect from their televisions.”


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