Roku Gaining Ground Among Streaming Media Players

New research from Parks Associates reveals that Roku is increasing its market share in the streaming media player landscape, extending its lead on competitors Amazon, Google and Apple.

The firm’s latest industry report Reinventing CE: Transforming Devices to Service Platforms finds that 37 percent of U.S. households own and use a Roku device as of Q1 2017, up from 30 percent in Q1 2016. 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 percent to 24 percent of 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 percent share of installed base, while Apple’s share fell to 15 percent.

Parks Associates estimates that 45 percent of U.S. broadband households own a smart TV, and nearly one-half of all U.S. broadband households own a gaming console.

“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 at 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.”

“One-third of U.S. broadband households own a streaming media player,” Hower said. “The growth of the U.S. OTT market provided consumers with unprecedented ease of access to video content. These streaming media devices make for quick and easy access to the top OTT libraries.”