With streaming usage surging in regions like Europe and South America during the pandemic, the top U.S. connected TV device platforms, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, have seen their global market share slip.
According to the latest data released by Conviva, Roku saw a 3% drop in global connected TV “big screen” usage in the first quarter of 2021 vs. Q1 2020, and now stands at 30% of the worldwide market. Amazon Fire TV has slipped from 22% to 19% over that same span.
Conversely, Korean smart TV markers Samsung and LG have seen increased usage in fast-emerging streaming markets—Samsung’s OS market share is up 3 points to 12% in the latest Conviva study, while LG’s usage grew from 4% to 6%.
Also notable: Google’s Android TV usage grew from 2% share to 5%.
While other research companies, including Strategy Analytics, measure streaming platform market share by counting device shipments, Conviva says its “proprietary sensor technology” is embedded into 3.3 billion streaming app downloads globally, “measuring in excess of 500 million unique viewers watching 180 billion streams per year with 1.8 trillion realtime transactions per day across more than 180 countries.”
The shifting platform pie comes as streaming usage has surged in places like South America, which saw usage increase by 240 this past year, as well as Africa (up 149%) and Europe (up 122%).
In North America, where Roku and Fire TV are the dominant platforms, usage was only up 18%.
“While Roku captured a significant share of global viewing time, this prominence was primarily driven by North America, where it commanded 37% of big-screen viewing time in Q1 2021,” Conviva’s report stated. “In the second largest market for Roku, Europe, the company only accounted for 8% share of the big screen, trailing a number of other devices, including Samsung with 19%, Chromecast with 12%, Amazon Fire TV with 10%, LG TV with 10%, and Android TV with 9%.
Roku’s position is even worse in Africa, Asia, Oceania and South Africa, all of which it has 4% usage or less, Conviva added.
