With more applications being optimized for the big screen, TV apps are destined to become part of the mainstream TV viewing experience, according to the latest findings from In-Stat (News - Alert).

A new In-Stat research survey estimates that over 60 percent of connected TV households use a TV app at least once per week. Based on the latest study, In-Stat forecasts that shipments of connected TVs with integrated TV applications will grow by an average 36 percent over the next five years.

Keith Nissen, research director at In-Stat, said it’s no surprise that NetFlix and YouTube (News - Alert) rule the TV app world, but that’s soon to change as more competitors enter the lucrative space.

“As expected, Netflix and YouTube currently dominate the TV application space,” Nissen said. “But as Netflix competitors become more numerous and as applications are optimized for the big screen, TV apps will become part of the mainstream TV viewing experience.”

However, the adoption of online video streaming services, such as Netflix, does not increase the propensity to purchase online video content, TMCnet reported.

In-Stat’s latest research also finds that 22 percent of US BB households already own an HDTV with integrated TV apps and TV apps are not the primary reason for purchasing connected TVs.

The latest quarterly research shows that viewing DVR recorded TV programming does not lead to the adoption of free VoD services from a pay TV operator.

In-Stat’s latest research aligns with other recent findings that predict a major upswing of connected TVs in the next four years.

The Consumer Electronics Association (News - Alert) expects that manufacturers will ship 5.2 million connected TV sets in the U.S. in 2011, up from just under 1.3 million in 2009. Forrester (News - Alert), an independent tech research company, is predicting that 43 million homes will have connected TVs by 2015.

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