Roku kept its lead in the streaming media player market in Q1 2018 even as Amazon’s Fire TV gained a bit of ground, according to new data from Parks Associates.
Roku’s share held steady, at 37%, in Q1, while Amazon’s share of the sector increased 4% from last year, stealing some share from Google, the firm said.
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Consumers give Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV high marks in the usability category. Broken down further, Roku lead in multiple usability categories, while Apple TV did well in the gaming and content purchasing area. Parks Associates attributed some of Amazon Fire TV's market growth to improvements in the ease-of-setup category, which is still led by Apple TV.
Parks Associates said adoption of streaming media players is nearing 40%, with more than half of U.S. broadband homes owning a smart TV. About 50% of smart TV owners also own a separate streaming media player.
Among other stats, Parks Associates found that more than 70% of streaming media player owners use their devices at least once per week, versus 59% among smart TV owners.
“Smart TVs earned the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) among consumers out of all the CE products Parks Associates tested, but streaming media players still have higher usage rates, indicating these devices have firmly established their role in their ability to connect users with content quickly and easily,” Kristen Hanich, research analyst at Parks, said in a statement.
