Streaming Devices in 27% of Broadband Homes

According to Parks Associates, 27% of U.S. broadband households now own a streaming media device, and nearly 90% of those households have the devices connected to the Internet. The research house says more consumers bought a streaming media device than a Blu-ray player in the last 12 months and that the devices have the highest connection rate among the top consumer electronics categories. By comparison, 77% of the households with a smart TV and less than 50% of those with a Blu-ray player have those devices connected.

"The paradigm is changing, thanks to the growing amount of online and OTT content available to connected CE, which has allowed streaming media devices to carve out a key niche in the connected home," wrote Barbara Kraus, director of research for Parks.