According to research from Parks Associates, in Q1 of 2017, 7% of streaming media players owned by U.S. broadband households were Roku devices, up from one-third in Q1 2016.
“Roku emerged early as a U.S. market leader for streaming media players, and the company has held firmly to that position,” said Glenn Hower, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. “Higher-priced devices, such as the Apple TV, have not been able to keep up with low-priced and readily available Roku devices, which can be found at Walmart for as low as $29.99.”
According to Parks Associates, of the other major players in this market, only Amazon’s Fire TV had an increase in its share of installed base during the same timeframe. Amazon increased its share from 16% to 24% of streaming media players owned by U.S. broadband households, which moved the e-tailer ahead of Google for second place in streaming media player adoption. Google’s Chromecast now holds an 18% share of installed base, while Apple’s share fell to 15%.
Additional research in the report shows:
- 45% of U.S. broadband households own a smart TV.
- Parks Associates estimates 15.6 million smart speakers with personal digital assistants were sold in the U.S. in 2016.
- Nearly one-half of all U.S. broadband households own a gaming console.
