As Netflix and YouTube put video streaming into day-to-day lives, competition among streaming-media boxes has grown from the two-horse race -- Apple TV versus Roku -- to include Google's Chromecast launched last year. And now consumers have to factor in Amazon Fire TV, not to mention growing shipments of smart TVs that connect to the Internet.
What story do the numbers tell at this juncture? Apple said last year that to that point it had sold 13 million Apple TV boxes. Roku, meanwhile, had sold 8 million of its devices as of early this year. As for market share, researcher Parks Associates says that there's a significant amount of overlap in ownership -- that, for instance, most of those with a Google Chromecast own another kind of streaming media device. Parks breaks things down by looking at most-used device, which shakes out this way: Roku (56 percent), Apple TV (23 percent), Chromecast (10 percent), and other devices (11 percent).
From the article, "CEO: Roku's future is TV's future (Q&A)" by Joan E. Solsman.
Though Roku doesn't release sales figures, some outside data back up the notion of Roku's marketplace traction. A study from NPD found that Roku owners stream more than owners of other devices, and...
Consider usage, though, and the underdog's prospects start looking up. From a Parks Associates study, while Apple has sold more units globally, about 37 percent of US households with a streaming me...
Good news, bad news for Google: Chromecast is holding onto its slice of the streaming-video device market even as new rivals like Amazon's Kindle Fire TV emerge, but Chromecast is being used less a...
For Google, though, the large market for smart TVs and streaming media boxes makes it worth another try. While TV sales have been sluggish, sales of devices that plug into televisions and play vide...
