Streaming Media Growing Steadily

According to the NPD Group, by Q1 2017, 40% of U.S. Internet homes will have a streaming media player, bringing the total number of homes with such devices to 39 million. At the beginning of 2014 (Q1), only 16% of U.S. Internet homes had a streaming media player. NPD says ownership is on track to reach 24% by Q1 2015.

In its infancy, the streaming media player market was driven by Apple and Roku, but over the past year and a half Amazon and Google have made a significant impact, the research house says. In addition to streaming media players, TV sets, video game consoles, and Blu-ray Disc players also deliver apps to viewers' TVs. Among the four device platforms, streaming media players are forecast to contribute the most growth and TVs the second most growth, in installed and Internet connected TV devices over the next two years. NPD expects the total number of devices delivering apps to TVs to reach 211 million by Q1 2017.