Not even present in the top five last year, Google's Chromecast has climbed into the number two spot and crept up on Roku in the market for streaming media devices, according to new reports.
Roku still has a firm lead in the market for streaming devices, though both Roku and Apple have seen a good chunck of their collective market share consumed by Google and Amazon, according to Parks Associates' latest data on streaming media hardware.
Roku's roughly 46 percent share of the market in 2013 fell to about a 29 percent slice in 2014, while Apple's share dropped from about a 26 percent hold to a 17 percent stake over the same period. Meanwhile Amazon's Fire TV and Google's Chromecast have finally broken into the top five, claiming shares of 10 and 20 percent respectively.
While slices of the streaming market have evened out more at the top, the sector itself is still growing at a brisk pace. Sales of streaming media hardware in the first three quarters of 2014 matched the entirety of 2013. Parks Associates reports 10 percent of broadband households have purchased a streaming device this year.
Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks Associates, says the figure will reach 25 percent by 2015 and projects there will be approximately 50 million streaming media device sold around the world by 2017.
"Their low cost will make streaming media devices popular gifts this holiday season, and the race to meet consumer demands for online video will make this product category a very hot topic at the 2015 International CES," says Kraus.
US consumers watch about half of their television content in non-linear fashion as the market gravitates towards streaming media devices and DVRs, according to Kraus. That figure is up from 38 percent in 2010, she says.
In a report published two days earlier, GfK concluded that up to 38 percent of streaming device users reporting at least downsizing pay TV packages as they began consuming more streaming content. David Tice, senior vice president at GfK, says streaming hardware dominates primetime in the homes that use the devices, though many of the consumers don't believe the product detracts from broadcast TV consumption. GfK reports approximately 19 percent of U.S. households have either a Roku, Chromecast or Apple TV.
"Digital media players take a primary role in users' viewing behavior, ranking as the first or second destination - ahead of live TV or DVRs - when deciding what to watch in primetime," says Tice.
