YouGov’s 2012 digital consumer technology predictions include that smart TV ownership will grow slowly and the majority of smartphone users ignore ads.

Research firm YouGov today launched its digital consumer technology trends for next year, based on consumer research.

The report found just 15% of consumers said they would own a smart TV over the next year and while the growth in take up will be slow, YouGov predicts that TVs will become a key device for people to access the internet.

YouGov believes a driver for growth for smart TVs would be an increasing variety of content, because 36% of respondents said they’d be encouraged to purchase smart TVs if they could get more of the content they watch on linear TV over the internet.

Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov, also said social functionality will be key to its growth. “This next evolution of our TV sets is enabling viewers to share and comment on media content using Facebook and Twitter, or even to set up ‘virtual living rooms’ where programmes are watched at the same time between friends but at different locations, with social networks enabling the sharing of the viewing experience,” he said.

The research also explored smartphone usage, which it said is currently at 40% penetration, increasing to 68% following the next upgrade cycle. Despite an upcoming surge in use, YouGov found that 86% of smartphone users ignore advertising and 79% believe ads on smart phones are annoying.

YouGov also found tablet usage to still be in its infancy as only 4% of people own one, but it said the growth will accelerate as more devices, including Amazon’s Kindle Fire, come onto the market.