Parks research puts smart TVs at the center of HDR growth

By Rebecca Stone

Smart TVs are the primary streaming device in 62% of US internet households with a connected TV, according to Parks Associates research dated October 28, 2026, making the set the clearest commercial entry point for wider HDR adoption.

The figure—roughly two in three connected-TV households—comes from “High Dynamic Range and the Future of Video,” a white paper developed by Parks with InterDigital. It does not mean that 62% of all US households watch in HDR, and the report gives no HDR penetration rate. Device preference is the measured fact; HDR adoption remains the forecast.

What does the research establish?

Parks and InterDigital describe HDR’s expanding role across the entertainment ecosystem: it enhances brightness and contrast while producing richer colors and more lifelike images. Broader device support, growing content availability, and advances in production and distribution are moving HDR, in the paper’s view, from a premium feature toward an expected part of high-quality viewing.

For television manufacturers, the pitch is differentiation through picture quality and evidence of advanced-display value; for streaming services, content owners and creators, it is a more compelling experience that preserves creative intent. The paper presents these as commercial opportunities, but supplies no device shipment, catalog or revenue data to size them.

Michael Goodman, director of entertainment research at Parks Associates, said: “HDR gives the entertainment industry a powerful way to make improvements in picture quality. For manufacturers, it helps demonstrate the value of advanced displays. For streaming services and content owners, it provides an opportunity to deliver a more compelling experience and preserve the creative intent of their programming.”

The research provides no measured evidence here of willingness to pay, catalog depth or cost savings. Nor does it disclose a sample size or research method. The 62% should therefore anchor the market discussion without being read as an HDR conversion rate.

Where can HDR usage grow?\n

Live sports and gaming provide the most demanding demonstrations of HDR, according to the report. Bright highlights, detailed shadows and realistic imagery make improvements in production and real-time processing more consequential, so usage in these categories could push technical work rather than simply follow it. The paper gives no HDR audience or subscriber figures for either category.

Mobile viewing extends the use case beyond the television. Phones account for 24% of weekly video consumption and tablets contribute another 11%, putting the two device types at 35% on the report’s measure. However, it does not report how much mobile consumption uses HDR, which devices support it or whether users accept HDR at those screen sizes.

Delivery economics form the third strand. Parks expects AI-assisted image processing, cloud-based production and next-generation codecs such as Versatile Video Coding (VVC) to simplify workflows and deliver HDR more efficiently. The claim remains prospective: the paper provides no processing-time, bandwidth, compression or cost benchmark, and no implementation schedule for those tools.

Lionel Oisel, head of Video Labs at InterDigital, said: “Consumers may not always know HDR by name, but they recognise the experience it enables: richer color, deeper contrast and a more lifelike picture.”

He continued: “As HDR expands across streaming, live sports, gaming and mobile, the opportunity is to make that premium experience consistent and efficient on every screen. Innovation in HDR, video compression and delivery will be fundamental to making that possible.”

InterDigital developed the paper in partnership with Parks, so Oisel’s language is best read as the report’s development thesis, not independent validation. The source offers no measured proof that these innovations will lower costs or improve efficiency.

What could slow HDR adoption?

The report’s principal caveat is fragmentation. Differences in HDR formats, device capabilities and service implementations can produce inconsistent experiences, even when a service markets the same feature. Content providers must also manage the cost and complexity of supporting multiple formats while audiences move from standard video to HDR.

For a service provider, the practical question is not simply whether screens can render highlights and shadows, but whether the intended result can be delivered consistently across devices, content and service implementations. That turns consistency from a picture-quality feature into an operational requirement.

On standards, the paper names VVC but supplies no adoption timetable or interoperability profile. It also proposes no regulatory deadline, so device support, content availability and service implementation—not a policy deadline—would set the pace described in the report.

The evidence stops before those questions become measurable. The paper does not provide:

• Counts of HDR-capable smart TVs and mobile devices.
• Volume of HDR programming across streaming, sports and gaming services.
• The number of formats and service implementations a provider must support.
• Measured delivery savings from AI processing, cloud workflows or VVC.
• Pricing, subscriber uptake, investment plans or rollout dates.

With no rollout or investment timetable attached, the report’s claim that HDR is becoming foundational remains a forecast; the next test is whether device reach, content availability and production efficiency expand faster than the cost of format support.