GfK North America has released the “Digital Media Players 2014” report, looking at the penetration rates and effect on regular TV viewing. The three major companies (Apple, Google, Roku) offering an OTT service to consumers in the US have increased their market penetration from 2% of TV viewers in 2010 to 19% in 2014. This is a tenfold increase within four years and does not include on demand services via smart TVs.
According to Media Post, Roku is the market leader with 6% penetration, followed by Google with 5% and Apple with 4%. The report also mentions Boxee and Amazon at 1% each. Interestingly, the numbers published by the Mediapost and the GfK press release do not align perfectly.
The study also reveals that 43% to 50% of consumers (varies by brand) use the box in addition to their TV viewing, while 29% to 38% say that they use the streaming service to replace regular TV viewing. 21% to 36% said that they also watch traditional networks via streaming as this is now available on their devices.
The Media Post added some more data supporting the fact that not all OTT boxes are created equal. In a question about whether consumers are using the device more or less often, 35% of Roku customers said more and 22% said less often; 24% of Google consumers said more and 31% said less often; and for Apple, 42% indicated more often and 17% said less. The report offers no explanation on what causes these differences, which is certainly something the various manufacturers would like to know. The study also contains other data including device user profiles that may answer this question.
The study was based on 532 respondents in the US in September/October.
Display Daily Comments
With Amazon TV entering the market as well, we can expect this trend towards digital media players to continue in the coming year. It would appear that media players are winning over DVR services, at least in the US. – Norbert Hildebrand
