Yes. It could appear to be 'open', therefore quit functioning. It's cheap 'insurance' to have in place. It's no guarantee but much better than having nothing in place. The best protection, albeit the most impractical, would be to unplug stuff when not being used, when you leave the house or when a storm is coming up....and no one can be expected to do that. I sure can't.
I've had a power surge from lighting 5 miles away travel right through a month old, brand name UPS and fry a 65", 3D 4K Sony TV.
I've had a nearby (60-70 feet) strike come in on the satellite coax, go thru the DVR, travel the HDMI and toast a 32" Vizio TV; it had no other cable coming into it except the HDMI from the DVR, I had unplugged power!
Yeah, lightning around here seems to do what it wants to do, more often than not our surge devices will help but sometimes they won't. Just too much nature for man-made devices to handle.