Internet TV to cover 60 percent of households by 2014

Internet-connected television is expected to surge in the next three years as interest in connected devices grow, according to global consulting firm Bain & Company.

Specifically, at least 60 percent of households will have Internet TV by 2014 -- at least in the countries where the survey was conducted. Results are based upon the responses of more than 3,000 consumers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and India.

While the survey does cover video games and even online options for cultural activities, the real focus and shift will occur around connected video content.

However, Bain also posits that even though there might be consumer demand for this technology, the profits might not all be there for businesses unless they can develop better and more innovative ways for experiencing this kind of connected content.

One could argue that the challenge is enabling consumers to be able to find new content in a more personalized fashion -- a problem that digital media providers like Netflix and Pandora grapple with on a daily basis.

For now, the most common approach seems to focus on the user rather than their social networks. In the U.S. and the U.K., at least half of respondents replied that they rely on search engines to find content, but only a third rely on friends' suggestions and favorites.

However, that's not the case in China and India, where almost half (45 percent) actually leaned more on their social networks for finding new content. The problems in these two countries, Bain notes, is that they lack much of the infrastructure needed for viewing video on connected devices.

Nevertheless, roughly 75 percent of respondents in China and India seem to be willing to pay for webisodes and other short format content. There is slight interest in this regard in the U.S. and Europe, but two-thirds of respondents weren't interesting paying.