A recent report shows that just two operating systems make up over 50% of devices used to watch online content in U.S. households. Roku accounts for 28% of connected devices and Samsung makes up 23%.
Parks Associates’ latest US household research comes from the Streaming Video Tracker. The data shows that Amazon Fire TV, LG webOS, and Vizio SmartCast are considered mid-tier, and other platforms including Apple tvOS, gaming consoles, and Android TVs make up a smaller percentage of connected devices.
This study follows news from Roku last week, announcing that it has surpassed 100 million households worldwide.
The breakdown from the study shows that streaming services need to have distribution agreements in place with the major players, including Roku, Samsung, and Amazon, if they have any chance of reaching a wide audience.
“Control of the platform layer is central to competition in the connected TV market,” said Michael Goodman, Director, Entertainment, Parks Associates. “Operating systems determine what content consumers see, how services are positioned, and how advertising is delivered.”