In their annual survey, the Consumer Electronics Association has found that U.S. households are spending an average of $1,200 a year on electronic gadgets; the average home has 25 consumer-electronic devices, with the top five growth sectors being digital video recorders, network routers or hubs, MP3 players, cable modems, and digital cameras. "It"s interesting to note here that two of the fastest movers and shakers in the CE industry are devices that enable home networking. The other three products enable consumers to create, shift or transport digital content," said CEA research analyst Elena Caudle. Teenagers spend about $350 a year, which is about half of their total discretionary income, while adults with children and teens spend up to $500 more on CE purchases than the national average.
30% of U.S. households owned a router or hub (8% more than last year), 62% owned a cable modem (6% increase), digital video recorders were in 25% of U.S. households (8% increase) while MP3 player ownership was up 7% to 32% and digital-camera ownership rose to 62% of households. The five most owned products were televisions, 92% of households; DVD players, 84%; cordless phones, 82%; and cellular phones, 76%. Other product categories with significant growth included high-definition TVs, which are in a quarter of U.S. homes.