The bears once believed Roku's hardware business would be crushed by rivals like Alphabet's Google Chromecast, Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Fire TV, and Apple TV. Yet Roku consistently remains the most popular streaming device maker in the U.S., according to Parks Associates' latest numbers.
Between the first quarters of 2017 and 2019, Roku's domestic share of streaming devices rose from 37% to 39%, while its closest rival, Amazon, grew its share from 24% to 30%. However, the gross margin of Roku's player business also plunged from 22.2% to 5.5% between the second quarters of 2018 and 2019 as it sold cheaper devices to maintain that lead. It expects that figure to remain in the low single-digits for the rest of the year.
From the article "Roku Bolsters Its Strongest Business With a $150 Million Acquisition" by Leo Sun.
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