A new study by Strategy Analytics puts Roku far ahead of other platforms in the streaming device wars, at least within the United States. The firm estimates that more than 41 million Roku devices were being used in the first quarter of 2019. In second place, surprisingly, was Sony’s PlayStation consoles (31 million devices), followed by Microsoft Xbox consoles (29 million), Samsung TVs (27 million), Google Chromecast and Android TV devices (24 million), Amazon Fire TV devices (22 million), Nintendo consoles (18 million), Apple TV (13 million), and LG WebOS TVs (12 million).
As Engadget notes, Roku isn’t much of a player outside the United States, which may explain why Amazon claims to have more total active accounts worldwide. Amazon said in May that it had 34 million active accounts, versus 29.1 million reported by Roku around the same time. Still, Roku has done a much better job embedding its software in TVs from vendors like TCL and Sharp. The company says more than a quarter of smart TVs sold in the United States have its software on board, and one analyst estimates that about half of Roku’s active accounts come from televisions.
The Strategy Analytics report is noteworthy because it compares platform adoption across both smart TVs and stand-alone streaming players. Now we can clearly see how Roku’s big bet on smart TV integration is paying off.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Amazon had 30 million active Fire TV accounts. The actual number, as of May, is 34 million.
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