Smart TVs as the Next Frontier in Internet Healthcare: A Prospectus Overview

When it comes to internet healthcare, people’s immediate associations are often with popular concepts such as mobile health, online hospitals, and big data in healthcare. Few, however, link smart TVs with internet healthcare. Yet, as the penetration of smart TVs continues to rise and their hardware capabilities grow stronger, smart TVs have reached a critical tipping point for development and may well become the next major trend in internet healthcare, following smartphones.

Smart TVs Reach a Tipping Point

In recent years, internet brands such as LeEco and Xiaomi have aggressively entered the smart TV sector, while traditional manufacturers like Hisense, Skyworth, and TCL have accelerated their transformation and upgrading by adopting internet-centric thinking. Various stakeholders have conducted multifaceted experiments in product definition, application services, and revenue models. These efforts signify that the smart TV industry is undergoing a fundamental revolution in both product concepts and business models:

This entails an upgrade from physical carriers of video content to internet-based media and smart home hubs, as well as a strategic shift from pursuing television sales volume and hardware profits to focusing on user acquisition and service-driven revenue.

The fundamental reason behind such transformation in the smart TV industry is that this product category has reached a critical tipping point in its development:

First, the installed base of smart TV terminals reached the hundred-million level, exceeding 220 million units in 2017.
According to data from research institutions such as Allview Cloud, GfK, and CMM, the installed base of smart TV terminals in China (including smart TVs and smart TV boxes) exceeded 120 million units by June 2015.

In terms of incremental growth, TV sales in 2015 are projected to reach 44.29 million units, while smart TV sales are expected to rise from 26.5 million units in the previous year to 40.55 million units, accounting for over 91% of the total.

Industry experts project that TV sales will stabilize at around 45 million units annually over the next two to three years, with smart TVs accounting for an increasing share. Even under a conservative assumption that smart TV sales remain at 40 million units per year for the next two years, the installed base of smart TV terminals will easily surpass 220 million by the end of 2017.

Second, the number of daily active users for smart TVs has grown rapidly, with all mainstream brands exceeding 4 million.

Under the impact of the internet, mainstream domestic smart TV brands are placing increasing emphasis on user service and operations. In terms of daily active users (DAU), a key metric for measuring user engagement, these brands have all surpassed 4 million. For instance, Hisense and Skyworth’s Coocaa each reached 4.05 million DAUs (Hisense’s data is from June 2015, while Coocaa’s is from early November 2015). Huanwang Technology, a joint venture established by TCL and Changhong, recorded even higher DAUs, exceeding 5 million (data as of late August 2015).

Third, Innovative Interaction Methods and the Application of Extended Interfaces
In terms of interaction methods, smart TVs are gradually moving away from the sole reliance on remote controls. Voice interaction based on microphones built into remotes is becoming increasingly prevalent. Far-field voice interaction with an effective range of 3–5 meters, motion-sensing cameras that accurately monitor human movements, and other “cutting-edge technologies” (such as Touchjet in the recent Coocaa T55, which uses infrared sensing to achieve a “touchscreen” effect) are also being adopted by some brands.

In terms of expansion interfaces, USB has become a standard feature for smart TVs, Wi-Fi is gradually becoming ubiquitous, and Bluetooth is also being adopted in some high-end TVs and smart set-top boxes.

As can be seen, the installed base of smart TV terminals has exceeded 120 million units, with daily active users of mainstream brands surpassing 4 million. This indicates that smart TVs have established a solid user foundation, which is expected to continue growing in the coming years. Furthermore, the introduction of innovative interaction methods and expansion interfaces—such as voice control, motion-sensing cameras, touch controls, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth—will bring about a qualitative leap in the interactivity and expandability of smart TVs.

All of this signals that smart TVs are “breaking out” of their narrow positioning as large-screen audio-visual players and evolving into smart home hubs that connect various peripheral devices and host a rich array of application services. Against this broader trend, healthcare is poised to rise from its current marginal status to become a mainstream application on future smart TVs.

The Natural User Base of Smart TVs

In the current smart TV industry, internet-based brands represented by Xiaomi have made youth-oriented entertainment features their main selling point, prompting traditional manufacturers to follow suit. However, the prospects may not be as promising as imagined:

First, young people face an abundance of tempting choices. For instance, when it comes to typical films and variety shows, they tend to prefer watching them on laptops, tablets, or smartphones; however, for blockbuster movies that highlight grand scenes and special effects, going to the cinema is clearly the better option.

From a gaming functionality perspective, young people have smartphones and tablets for portable gaming, while hardcore gamers rely on personal computers and consoles such as the PS4 and Xbox. In comparison, smart TVs suffer from less convenient controls and inferior image quality, making it equally difficult for them to gain favor among younger users.

Second, young people’s lifestyles are predominantly centered on non-local and outdoor settings, such as pursuing education and employment in other cities and engaging in consumer leisure activities outdoors. Smart TVs, by contrast, are better suited for home environments and thus hold limited relevance for young people.

If we shift our focus from young people to the elderly, young children, and pregnant women, we will find that they are the natural user base for smart TVs.

For these three groups, the home is the primary setting of their daily lives, and television is the product that accompanies them for the longest duration. Meanwhile, they are the household members most susceptible to health issues and have the greatest demand for medical and healthcare services. If performance and user experience reach a sufficient standard, smart TVs have the potential to become the preferred smart terminal for delivering healthcare services in the home setting.

Moreover, with the aging of China’s population and the relaxation of the two-child policy, the overall population of elderly individuals, young children, and pregnant women will continue to expand, laying a solid user foundation for the long-term development of telemedicine.

Current State of Telemedicine 1: Hardware Has Reached a Downward Trend

Before smart TVs entered the healthcare sector, cable television providers across China had already made some attempts:

Overall, cable television’s exploration in the healthcare sector has not been successful.

Industry insiders told VCBeat that, in fact, the network quality of cable television is superior to that of broadband internet, particularly in point-to-point transmission, enabling cable networks to handle surges in online consultation traffic. However, cable TV faces significant challenges: its core television business generates substantial profits, leaving little incentive to venture into the uncertain healthcare market; furthermore, traditional set-top boxes offer limited functionality and outdated performance, making them ill-suited for applications beyond live TV broadcasting. Additionally, cable TV users are accustomed primarily to watching television and exhibit low acceptance of healthcare services.

Notably, as two publicly listed companies operating in Shenzhen and Zhejiang—regions characterized by robust economies and highly competitive markets—Topway Video Communication and Wasu Group may be more effective in driving the adoption of television-based healthcare services.

Foreign manufacturers have also made attempts in the field of television-based healthcare, with Japanese companies being the most proactive. The earliest initiative dates back to 1984, when the Mitaka City Medical Association in Japan collaborated with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) to provide telemedicine consultations via television. In recent years, Mitsubishi and Panasonic have separately launched smart TVs integrated with monitoring modules to track physiological data. Mitsubishi has further explored the development of club-style personal health management services.

In contrast, U.S. manufacturers appear less enthusiastic about telehealth, yet Apple TV holds implicit potential for developing healthcare services.

Apple’s tvOS, developed for Apple TV, is based on iOS and has been redesigned for the living-room environment. In terms of hardware, it features a 64-bit A8 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB or 64GB of storage capacity, supports 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and is compatible with the new Siri Remote/Apple TV Remote for control. Additionally, reports indicate that the next Apple Watch update will add Apple TV remote functionality. From the perspective of system and hardware configuration, Apple TV is capable of connecting to smart medical devices and hosting various healthcare applications.

Moreover, according to relevant reports, the tvOS App Store on Apple TV will add a new Health & Fitness category, suggesting that health and medical applications may soon become available.


Similar to the situation abroad, China’s smart TV industry has focused its most prominent business activities on video and gaming, while healthcare has attracted significantly less attention and fewer participants.

Skyworth launched smart TVs centered on “Cloud Health” in 2012, but by 2014, these Skyworth Cloud Health TVs had faded from the market. In June 2014, Chengdu Internet of Things Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. introduced a home smart TV-based medical system, positioned as a tool for remote online management of chronic diseases, but there has been no further news since then. The fate of these two projects reflects, to some extent, the challenges faced in the early efforts to integrate healthcare services into smart TVs.


However, domestic manufacturers have not given up. Traditional manufacturers such as Skyworth, Changhong, and TCL, as well as internet brands like Xiaomi and LeEco, have successively launched development plans, cooperation initiatives, application services, or hardware products related to smart TV healthcare:


However, the various plans of the aforementioned manufacturers have not yet been fully implemented. Currently, the primary smart TV system platform launched on the market with healthcare as its core feature is Tsinghua Tongfang’s Cloud Can.


Yun Guan is an upgraded version of Tsinghua Tongfang’s smart TV box, serving as a one-stop smart home ecosystem that connects with popular smart medical hardware on the market and hosts a wide range of application services, thereby meeting diverse needs in entertainment, education, healthcare, finance, and smart home automation.


In the healthcare sector, YunGuan has launched the Zhixing smartwatch designed for the elderly, featuring health monitoring and emergency call functions. The company plans to next introduce a seven-piece health kit that includes a blood lipid monitor, blood pressure monitor, body fat analyzer, weighing scale, ear thermometer, pedometer, and wireless receiver.

In addition, YunGuan will adopt an open collaboration model, partnering with more offline hospitals and physicians in the future to address challenges such as household health management and difficulties in accessing medical care. Thus, YunGuan has initially established a healthcare service platform encompassing data monitoring and processing, multi-platform and multi-terminal shared interaction, remote consultations, and offline patient guidance.

Current State of Telemedicine II: The Software Battle Has Just Begun

In terms of application software, there are currently four major categories: comprehensive medical services, health monitoring, information tools, and fitness/exercise. (Download figures are based on statistics from four app markets—Qipo, Shafa, ZNDS, and Dangbei—and do not include pre-installed software from TV manufacturers.)

Comprehensive Medical Category (8):

Health Monitoring Category (3):

Information and Tools Category (8):

Fitness and Exercise (5 items):

It is evident that knowledge and information related to healthcare, wellness, and health preservation constitute the mainstream functionalities of current television applications. Comprehensive medical services, informational tools, and fitness and exercise categories all feature these as their primary or sole functions. The presentation format is predominantly video-based, supplemented by text. This approach aligns with the deeply ingrained habit of TV users to consume video content, representing a relatively low-barrier entry point.

Some applications have enabled online consultation services. For instance, Chunyu Family Doctor allows video consultations by connecting a camera to the TV. However, since cameras are rarely used among TV users, most consultations still rely on phone calls.

Notably, the three apps—Hehe Health Scale, Yijiakang, and Kangle Youdao—monitor bodily data by connecting to smart medical hardware, while Kuwan Gym provides comprehensive fitness services by linking to smart fitness equipment, demonstrating the potential of smart TVs to become the hub of the smart home.

From a business model perspective, the TV platform, much like mobile platforms, remains in an exploratory phase. For instance, Chunyu Family Doctor and DXY Doctor are essentially leveraging their accumulated advantages from PC and mobile platforms to extend their services to the TV platform. Given that sustainable profitability has yet to be achieved on mobile platforms, the TV segment will evidently require more time to refine its approach.

According to VCBeat, Chunyu Family Doctor will next launch a highly specialized, end-to-end blood pressure management service in Beijing as its initial market. However, the pricing model has not yet been finalized, and its profit potential remains to be seen.

Interestingly, e-commerce has been the first to demonstrate profit potential in the television healthcare sector. According to Ma Ronghua, CEO of Health Medical Aid One, its subsidiary Health Mall has already achieved profitability this year. However, like Chunyu Family Doctor, which introduced external partners to operate its mall business, neither company actually intends to make e-commerce a core focus of their operations.

According to many industry experts, for television-based healthcare to achieve a more promising commercial outlook, it is necessary to wait for the maturation of the entire industry, including TV manufacturers, internet healthcare companies, smart hardware providers, and the broader user base.

Industry Barriers: Hardware and Interaction

Objectively speaking, television-based healthcare remains in a relatively nascent stage of development, plagued by various issues. For instance, regarding user behavior patterns, the majority of users currently engage most frequently with audio-visual and gaming features, paying insufficient attention to health and medical applications. From the perspective of TV-side applications themselves, shortcomings in functionality configuration, UI design, and user experience have hindered user acquisition and retention.

However, from the perspective of industry development logic, users’ behavioral habits regarding smart TVs can be reshaped by superior hardware and software performance, powerful functionalities, and a seamless user experience. Ultimately, the robust capabilities and refined experience offered by application software are built upon the foundation of exceptional hardware performance.

This mirrors the trajectory of the mobile internet’s rise in recent years, which was gradually realized only after smartphones significantly boosted CPU and memory capabilities, refined interaction methods through touchscreens, cameras, accelerometers, and gyroscopes, and made Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS standard features.

Therefore, similar to smartphones a few years ago, there are currently two major issues standing in the way of smart TVs and hindering the smooth development of healthcare services:

Weak hardware performance and poor openness.Apart from internet-branded TVs such as LeEco and Xiaomi, as well as high-end models from traditional TV manufacturers, the hardware performance of most smart TVs currently remains relatively weak, lagging significantly behind mainstream smartphones. This results in slow software operation, difficulty in supporting features that demand higher hardware performance, and a substantial negative impact on user experience.

Regarding external interfaces, Bluetooth is currently available only on a few high-end TVs, and most smart TVs cannot seamlessly connect to consumer smart medical devices. Although Bluetooth functionality can be added to TVs via USB Bluetooth adapters, practical use and user feedback collected by VCBeat indicate that this approach still suffers from poor stability and compatibility. In essence, current smart TVs remain, to some extent, closed systems.

The interaction method is immature, resulting in poor user experience.Currently, the mainstream interaction method for smart TVs remains the remote control, which suffers from issues such as insensitive operation, unsmooth user experience, lack of interactive depth, and limited functionality. These limitations constrain the capabilities and user experience of healthcare services on TV platforms.

Voice interaction has been adopted by many smart TVs, primarily through microphones integrated into remote controls. However, its functionality remains limited, currently offering only basic features such as program search and information queries.

Domestic intelligent voice technology providers, including iFlytek, Unisound, and AISpeech, have developed far-field voice interaction solutions for smart TVs, enabling voice control within a range of 3–5 meters. These solutions can significantly enhance the interactivity and user experience of smart TVs; however, they have currently been adopted by only a limited number of products, such as the LeEco Super TV 3.

Compared with voice interaction, motion-sensing cameras and touch-based interfaces are increasingly marginalized on smart TVs, requiring users to purchase accessories separately, while very few manufacturers offer such peripherals. Currently, LeEco primarily provides three models of motion-sensing cameras for its TV products, while Coocaa has achieved large-screen touch interaction by integrating the U.S.-based Touchjet technology (which uses infrared sensing to detect human movements and simulate touch control).

The immaturity of interaction methods not only fails to deliver a satisfactory user experience but also precludes features that align with user needs. For instance, the absence of microphones and cameras on TV sets prevents the implementation of online medical consultation services via voice or video, thereby driving users to migrate to smartphones or tablets.

If the aforementioned issues are effectively addressed, healthcare applications will be able to develop more robust features and deliver superior user experiences. Hardware manufacturers will launch medical products better optimized for television platforms, and widespread user acceptance and usage habits regarding TV-based healthcare will gradually evolve. This will foster a mutually reinforcing and stimulating industry ecosystem.

However, addressing the aforementioned issues requires TV manufacturers to take the lead in upgrading their product strategies and devoting greater effort to manufacturing and system development, while also necessitating further maturation and refinement of related components and solutions to reduce costs.

Multiple industry experts predict that it will take at least two years for smart TVs to achieve widespread adoption and maturity in terms of hardware performance and interaction methods.

Three Directions of Telemedicine

Although television-based healthcare will not immediately experience the explosive growth seen in mobile health, the period before hardware and user adoption fully mature may well be an opportune time for strategic positioning.

For enterprises that have already accumulated certain brand influence, medical resources, and user scale, they can consider how to better leverage their advantages to serve TV users and build a comprehensive closed-loop healthcare service ecosystem. Emerging companies, on the other hand, should focus more on how to utilize smart TVs—a household entry point without dominant players yet—to establish their own unique competitive edge.

Specifically, there are three directions in telemedicine worth noting:

Health Education and Medical Consultation.Disseminating health and medical knowledge via video is the area where smart TVs can most easily exert their influence. Currently, mainstream video platforms largely focus their efforts on entertainment, sports, and other sectors, paying insufficient attention to the health and medical field, which creates a strategic opportunity for smart TVs. If health and medical content resources can be effectively integrated and operated, their commercial value may well rival that of the currently booming entertainment and sports sectors.

In terms of medical consultations, smart TVs can fully leverage the advantages of large screens by actively adopting voice and video technologies to provide users with an intuitive and convenient large-screen consultation experience.

However, TV-based medical consultations may be better suited for companies that have already established a comprehensive presence in the internet healthcare sector, as the TV platform enables more complete user reach and helps build a cross-device, end-to-end service loop.

Chronic Disease, Pregnancy, and Health Management.Chronic disease management and health care represent a key area of integration between the internet and healthcare industries. The large-screen features of smart TVs and their home-based usage scenarios are particularly well-suited for two demographic groups: the elderly and pregnant women. Product development should thoroughly consider their specific usage contexts and needs, such as emphasizing family sharing and emotional connection. In terms of functional design, this should be reflected through features like multi-device support, cross-platform sharing, and multi-screen interaction.

Additionally, it is necessary to enhance compatibility with smart medical hardware and wearable devices, and integrate them with cutting-edge technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, so as to provide users with a comprehensive, closed-loop health service system.

In terms of business models, chronic disease management, prenatal care, and general health management offer substantial opportunities. Hardware manufacturers can enhance product performance and compatibility, integrating more seamlessly with smart TV system platforms and applications to create a smooth and convenient user experience. Companies with deep expertise in specific professional fields can provide vertically integrated, comprehensive service solutions tailored to specific groups, such as the elderly and pregnant women. For platform-level and ecosystem-driven enterprises, their advantages in big data and cloud computing, along with their control over key resources in the healthcare sector, will enable smart TVs to become a highly promising new channel for growth.

Family Doctor Services.The greatest opportunity for smart TVs in the healthcare sector may lie in family doctor services.

As China’s population ages at an accelerating pace, the public is placing increasing emphasis on personal health. Meanwhile, the government is continuously strengthening the “safety-net” social security system, and healthcare resources and organizational structures are being reconfigured under healthcare reform. These trends all signal that China’s family doctor services are poised for a significant takeoff.

Notably, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine have recently proposed that, by 2020, all regions should strive to ensure that every household has a qualified contracted family doctor and every resident maintains an electronic health record. This implies that over the next five years, a series of policies and measures will be introduced from the central to local governments to accelerate the rapid development of the family doctor industry.

In the upcoming industry boom, smart TVs are poised to play a significant role. This is because China, with its vast territory, large population, and substantial proportion of low- and middle-income residents, requires a high-quality, efficient, yet affordable solution that is financially viable for both the general public and government budgets. Internet-driven thinking and technological innovations will play an irreplaceable role in this process.

Meanwhile, as smart TVs penetrate every ordinary Chinese household as intelligent terminals, their increasingly powerful hardware performance, ever-improving interaction methods, and enhanced compatibility with smart devices will position them as the preferred home entry point for the entire family doctor service ecosystem.

The integrated development of family doctors with the internet and smart TVs will give rise to abundant entrepreneurial and investment opportunities. For consumers, opportunities exist in smart medical hardware, vertically integrated home healthcare services, and elderly care services combining medical and nursing support. For enterprises and government entities, opportunities lie in industry-specific solutions, family doctor cloud platforms, big data in healthcare, AI-assisted diagnostic and consultation services, and online-to-offline (O2O) healthcare models.

Industry professionals are welcome to add the author on WeChat (ID: yeyurenlei) to jointly discuss development trends in the healthcare industry.