According to eMarketer, 86.2 million Americans have streamed a show or movie using a Roku compared to 64.6 million Americans who used an Amazon Fire TV. Google’s Chromecast came in third with 31.6 million viewers followed by the Apple TV in fourth place with 24.6 million users.
The Roku audience is over 3.5 times larger than the Apple TV fan base and the Fire TV is over 2.6 times larger. Numbers like that make it clearer why Apple has recently decided to open its Apple TV app to devices not made by Apple.
These numbers are limited to the United States. Overall Amazon reportedly has more active accounts than Roku, but inside the United States Roku dominates.
According to Roku, one in three smart TVs sold in the United States also comes with built-in Roku. As more Americans move away from streaming players to smart TVs this lead should help Roku maintain dominance in the streaming world. Now that Roku is expanding into new markets it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their leadership in Europe and parts of Central and South America.
What is your favorite streaming player and why? Roku? Fire TV? Apple TV? Leave us a comment and let us know.
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