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Roku Is the Top Streaming Device In the US and Still Growing, Report Finds (techcrunch.com)
Roku is the top streaming media player device in the U.S., and its growth is only increasing. According to the latest industry report from market intelligence firm Parks Associates, 37 percent of streaming devices in U.S. households are Roku devices, as of the first quarter of this year. That's up from 30 percent in the same quarter last year, the report notes. TechCrunch reports: The growth is coming at the expense of Roku's top competitors, like Apple and Google, with only Amazon's Fire TV able to increase its install base during the same timeframe. Fire TV devices are in 24 percent of U.S. households, as of Q1 2017, up from 16 percent last year. That climb allowed Amazon to snag the second position from Google's Chromecast, which has an 18 percent share. Lagging behind, Apple TV's market share fell to 15 percent -- a drop that Parks Associates Senior Analyst Glenn Hower attributes to Apple TV's price point. Roku last fall overhauled its line of streaming players with the intention of plugging every hole in the market. That strategy is seemingly paying off. There's now a Roku device to meet any consumer's needs -- whether that's an entry-level, portable and affordable "stick," to rival the Fire TV Stick or the Chromecast dongle, or a high-end player with 4K and HDR support, lots of ports, voice search remote, and other premium bells and whistles.
I'm sure there's a few months' lag in compiling the data and then processing it. Things have happened since Q1 2017 that make Roku less than useless for many users. I expect this growth spurt to be rather short lived. Before you pile your life savings into the IPO...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Rokus are fine, and it's great they are provider agnostic, but how is this possible? They compete directly with the primary methods people use to research and buy these devices, and I've not observed any exciting capability or pricing to them. I own three, but that's simply because they're not google, apple, or amazon.
For the Roku? No time soon....
Other uses of impeachment are in the same boat...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Roku doesn't have a competitive content business themselves (even though they want to), which means that (so far) it's in their best interest to work hard to make sure their platform works with everyone.
What TFA does not say is how many households have no streaming device.
One of the things I like most about having a (3rd gen) Apple TV is AirPlay. But one of the things I don't like about the device is having to use iTunes to stream my ripped movies and TV shows to it.
Does Roku have a similar (and solid) feature that works with various computers, tablets, etc.?
#DeleteChrome
I used to love Fire TV and use it almost exclusively but the changes they made to the UI, (Homepage and search category's.) are really terrible so I may look to moving to Roku player. (Even the voice search is fubar after 'Alexa' updates.) Basically after recent changes Fire TV is now constantly trying to sell u content even if you try to search in free Amazon Prime only content. (They have actually made it difficult to search for your free Prime media and your purchased library only. The changes to the homepage and search categories are really terrible so I may look to moving to Roku as well.
I love my little Roku 3. I wish it were legal to marry it, or my sister. Either one.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Don't they want to restrict your ability to watch what you want on the device you bought? I hear they are deactivating channels they don't like. So this Slashvertizement well backfire, no doubt.
My parents are now in their 80s, and they used half a dozen different DVRs (including three different models from Comcast that were just dreadful) before I finally gave-up and bought them a TiVo. They actually used it unlike the others.
I connected an old Mac Mini to their TV, and they never used it even though I had it sync to my collection of hundreds of movies and TV shows. Same with Chromecast, their Samsung "smart" TV, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV. I gave them my old Roku, and they love it. They use it nearly every day.
Aside: I'm in my mid-fifties and so are most of my friends. In my opinion, they're overwhelmed by choices of what to watch, and Netflix's recent change to hide real ratings has really made them angry. I recently heard that The Expanse was going to be available to watch on Netflix so I asked my coworkers and friends, and not a one of them still has Netflix. They've really hurt themselves with their rating fiasco.
Roku support is utterly terrible.
NVidia shield TV is the way to go. NVidia somehow manage to deliver enterprise grade support to consumers including things like RMA forward replacements.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Once again the mantra that piracy hurts no one will be proven false when private channels disappear.
I'd bet people are hesitant to pay into the Goolag due to YouTube shenanigans.
Honestly, I bought one once thinking it would be easy and simple and useful.
After I got repeated errors in just trying to set the damned thing up, I unplugged it, put it back in the box, and bought the Apple TV I should have bought in the first place.
At the time I was thinking "Jesus, if I can't set this fucker up no way non technical people will have a chance".
I never got to see it do anything, I just got stalled at like step 2 of the setup and said "fuck it, this isn't worth my time" and doesn't deserve my money.
Sure, I might be an idiot .. but after 25 years in the industry, if I bought it at Best Buy and can't get through the setup process, then I have to conclude the product just isn't ready for use by your average consumer. Just some dumb ass cryptic error I had no idea what it meant or what to do.
My Apple TV? It worked right the first time, and has done so ever since. Roku felt like an unpolished turd.
I'm up to three of them in the house now, and I wouldn't be surprised if another 2 or 3 got added in the next couple of years as the kids get older and want their own TV's in their rooms.
For my family, it aggregates the platforms we use to consume media (Plex for local, Netflix and Amazon Prime for non-local) into a single device that's simple to use and just works.
And after I figured out how much data they were sending back and Pi-Holed their telemetry domains, all was right with the world.
One need not vote for Hillary to see Trump impeached.
Given you decided on an apple TV i agree; you might be an idiot.
I only vaguely know that that is.
I've been administering my own slackware boxes since 1996.
and have to register the "hardware" before you can use it? That's why I never got one...
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Seriously if you take out all the streaming decices you will be left with something like roku, yes.
I started out using a Apple TV, but quickly realized Roku offered a better deal. I mostly use Netflix and Amazon video and find Roku a affordable streaming device. I suppose if your all in on Google Play the Chromecast option is better. Anything but Apple TV which is completely over priced for what it delivers.
I have played with the SDK which is simple and straightforward, in a few hours I wrote a "channel" that streams menus and content from my own server. My 3 year-old can use the menus. .
The roku also accepts rest calls for pretty much all the remote control functions, and you can add "launch parameters" to your custom channels, effectively allowing you to add arbitrary rest calls.
So basically I have a local picture menu that you can run from a browser to launch movies on any of my TVs, using fully supported and easy to understand roku APIs.
This makes it basically the only viable choice for my household
Maybe because Murdoch's Sky have a stake in Roku and use a re-branded Roku for their NowTV box they sell. But they haven't yet launched the Roku 4 in the UK and don't really push their boxes.
So if you want 4K look elsewhere....
Firesticks and Chromecasts seem a lot more common.
Oh, the old "Roku requires a credit card" myth again.
Really? My wife got ours set up in just a few minutes. I think we spent more time trying to remember our Netflix password than doing any other part of the setup. It's basically:
1) plug connectors to TV
2) connect Roku to wifi (or physical cable)
3) enter account details into the channels (like Netflix, Amazon) that you subscribe to.
I don't remember there being anything else to it.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
Then why did the Roku I bought yesterday ask for my credit card on startup?
I'm surprised at the number of AC comments posting venomous bile about a mere device, but the inaccuracy of this post is laughable. I don't even know what "three-button remote" you're objecting to, but my Roku remote has something like a dozen buttons, covering all the normal features you'd expect. It's a far sight more intuitive than the PS3 controller is for streaming, for sure.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
I bought a Roku 3, loved it, then got another.
The remote had changed... four buttons for services (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) which I could ignore, but they changed the "rewind 7 seconds" button* with a "voice search button that pulls you out of whatever it is you are doing and doesn't provide an undo method. Not a fan. Also, they moved the fabric Roku "flag" from the side where it was easy to remove to the bottom where it pokes my palm.
* Rewind seven seconds, the feature I never thought I'd use, but dang if it isn't handy. Especially since the PBS channel has an option for CC on replay. "What did he just say?" push button, he repeats it with closed captioning. It was a great feature, though I wish Netflix (Youtube?) would include the CC on replay feature.
For some oddball reason, my Spectrum-Warner remote, which did everything else, didn't want to switch to HDMI 2. And, since I got my Roku soon after a move, I had a hellova time finding the original TV remote, which did work.
The Roku itself seemed straightforward, but maybe a Joe Sixpack or Aunt Tilly would disagree.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
I bought a Roku Ultra to be able to watch both Amazon and Google content on one device. Even though it was months after release, the apps still had audio sync issues making the services unwatchable. The forums were filled with complaints and I posted logs and questions which were ignored. Literally the only reply I ever received from a Roku forum moderator was a complaint that my post was off topic for the thread (I was posting in an active thread as most others were ignored). Ditched Roku that day and would never buy such a poor quality product from an unresponsive tech company like Roku again.
Exactly. Or the piece of shit apple remote. LOL
"There's now a Roku device to meet any consumer's needs."
Oh really? There's a Roku that can run Kodi and other Android applications? That's great! And it supports casting from a phone as well? Perfect! I've been waiting for Roku to catchup. Even better is that it's an open-source operating system.
Oh. Wait. Roku is still proprietary garbage, that's right. What a terrible article.
Hmm, I plug it into HDMI port, plug it into power, and then... it worked.
Yes, you put in a credit card number. This is for on demand purchases only, just remember to never use it. If you're paranoid then use a pre-paid $10 card then have it expire.
For Apple TV, don't you need to have an Apple account? I thought it was heavilly iTunes based?