If you don't have a streaming media player (we have two and I'm considering a third already!) by now, it's likely you will in the next few years. According to the NPD Group, the number of streaming media devices in the U.S. will reach 204 million with in the next three years, an increase of 100% and a total that will be more than double the number of projected households connected to the Internet.
The connection rate is also projected to
increase. While 60% of Internet-capable devices are currently connected, NPD
projects that 76% of installed units will be connected by 2017. The evolution of hardware and digital content distribution is constantly changing the TV viewing experience," said Buffone, executive director of NPD Connected Intelligence, “The hardware is able to engage with consumers in ways that it hadn’t before. Over the coming years, the consumer’s preferred device for apps on TV will be shaped by the next generation of video game consoles, Smart TVs, and a new wave of streaming media players.” MORE: RapidTVNews.com 07/23/2014 - Connected TV device market to skyrocket in US or MediaPost 07/22/14 - Connected TV Device Market Set To Explode
Signaling a major shift in
priorities for cable customers, a Moody's Investor Service report says cable operators will, beginning in
2015, start serving more broadband subscribers than video subscribers. The company estimates that
subscribers to cable broadband and video services pulled even at about 50
million apiece at the beginning of 2014. As more and more customers consider broadband service an must-have product – a Pew Research Center study showed that 53% of adults said it would be “very hard or impossible” to give up their broadband service while just 35% said the same for TV – Moody’s predicts that cable operators will make it easier to unbundle broadband offerings. MORE: Multichannel News 07/24/14 - Moody’s: Broadband Subs To Surpass Video in 2015
New research from Parks Associates and also from Strategy Analytics
puts the number of connected TV devices, which includes set-top boxes, smart
televisions, game consoles and more, now exceeds 1 billion installed units, and
are on pace to hit the 2 billion mark by 2018. No surprise that Roku is now the most widely used
streaming media player in 44 percent of American homes that watch online video
through their living room TV.
The studies verify that nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of
pay-TV subscribers have at least one device connected to their TV, according to
Parks, an increase from 53 percent in 2013.
Roku devices and Apple TVs account for 72 percent of streaming media
device sales in the U.S. in 2013. Up and coming Google’s Android TV/Chromecast and
Amazon's new entry, FireTV could both prove to be strong future competitors,
the report notes, while also pointing out Apple TV as a "sleeping
giant." MORE: 07/10/14 - techcrunch.com - Connected TV Market Crosses 1B Devices As Google Pins Its Hopes On Android TV or ParksAssociates - The Evolving Market for Streaming Media Devices (sub. req.) or 07/09/14 FierceCable - Parks: Roku owns 44% of the U.S. OTT device market
Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson opened the book on his findings of how Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, and Redbox Instant compare in their
offerings of top 50 movies available for streaming over the past three years
and top 75 TV shows available from the past four years. The report revealed that Netflix
continues to outpace Amazon.com’s subscription-video service in terms of
content-licensing, delivering substantially more of the top movies and TV shows from the last few years. There’s no question that Netflix, by stocking more hit shows and movies, would to some degree appeal to a wider base of consumers than Amazon’s service. But Netflix hasn’t decisively won the SVOD war: Amazon remains aggressive in looking for exclusive TV licensing deals to expand its 40,000-plus title Prime Instant Video service. More: Deadline 07/03/14 - Amazon Narrows Gap with Netflix in Hit TV Shows but not Movies
