More South Koreans are switching to smartphones and tablet PCs for their television viewing, with most having just one TV set at home, latest data showed Tuesday.

The findings by the Korea Information Society Development Institute showed that 76.6 percent of South Korean households had one TV set at home last year, up from 70.9 percent and 69.7 percent in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

The survey was conducted on approximately 5,000 households nationwide in 17 major cities, with researchers making door-to-door visits.

The trend coincided with the ending of analogue broadcasts in December 2012, according to the institute. Consumers apparently threw away their outdated TV sets without replacing them, opting to view programming on mobile devices instead, the institute said.

The number of smartphone users came to 37.88 million at the end of January among a population of around 50 million. (Yonhap)