For some time now, many have been predicting that streaming players will be replaced by smart TVs. Now Amazon has announced that Fire TV smart TVs are the fastest growing Fire TV device out performing Fire TV Sticks and Cubes, according to Amazon’s VP of entertainment devices and services at Amazon Daniel Rausch says, during an interview with Strictly Business.
Amazon is not alone. Roku TVs have started to dominate the market vs Roku Players. Increasingly Americans are ditching their old dumb TVs for new smart TVs with Roku and Fire TVs built into them.
Amazon also wants your Fire TV to be more of a hub for your smart home. Amazon wants to keep developing its smart home hub on TVs to let you control your home through your Fire TV. Including your Ring cameras to see who is at the door but also what the temp in your home is.
Mr. Rausch went on to say he was surprised by how strong Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube sales still are.
This dominance of smart TV sales explains why both Amazon and Roku have started to manufacture their own smart TVs instead of just partnering with 3rd party companies like TCL. By making their own TVs, Roku and Amazon can push forward new features faster than relying on 3rd parties to incorporate new features.
Streaming players are not dead yet, but clearly, it is a shrinking market as most buys look at new TVs instead of adding a streaming player to older TVs.