Parks: Roku Still No. 1 Streaming Media Device

20 Aug, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Roku, which helped create the video streaming market in 2008 with Netflix, continues to reign the top streaming media player, according to new from Parks Associates.

Roku leads all streaming media device sales in the U.S. with 34% of units sold in 2014. Google Chromecast is second with 23%, and new entrant Amazon Fire TV surpassed Apple TV for third. The four media devices accounted for 86% of all units sold to U.S. broadband households in 2014. Parks estimates that 86 million streaming media devices will be sold globally in 2019.

“Market consolidation around these brands forces new entrants to develop more creative features and functionality to tap into the strong consumer demand for streaming content. Devices with additional functionality such as the Intel Compute Stick may be a sign of things to come, where streaming is not the primary function but an extra feature to provide additional value,” said Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks, said in a statement.

The research firm reports that nearly 20% of U.S. broadband households own at least one streaming device, such as a Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV, or Apple TV. Eight percent own at least one streaming stick, such as a Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, or Roku’s HDMI Streaming Stick, while 2% own both.

“Device shipments and sales receipts are important performance measures, but an equally critical metric for device makers is ongoing usage,” Kraus said. “Usage will drive alternate revenue streams such as content sales and advertising. Roku devices are the most used among U.S. broadband households that own a streaming media device at 37%, followed by Google Chromecast at 19%, Apple TV at 17%, and Amazon Fire TV devices at 14%.”

 

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