Streaming Media Players in 25% of U.S. Homes by 2015

According to Parks Associates, more than 25% of U.S. households will have a streaming media player by 2015, with continued robust sales and new entries such as Amazon Fire TV driving expansion of the connected CE category. The research house says Roku accounted for 46% of streaming media players purchased in the United States in 2013, while Apple, its closest competitor, had 26%.

Roku is also the most-used streaming media player in the United States, Parks says. Among U.S. broadband households with a streaming media player, 44% use a Roku player the most vs. 26% that use Apple TV the most. The gap has widened since 2013, when 37% of streaming media player owners used Roku most and 24% used Apple TV most.

Parks expects global sales for streaming media players to reach nearly 50 million by 2017 and U.S. broadband household penetration to exceed 38%.