Internet-connected television use including Apple TV growing to over 168 million in 2017
Apple has grown its body of streaming hardware users, but still lags behind offerings from Amazon, Google, and Roku, according to a new research study.
The study, collated by eMarketer sees explosive growth in internet-connected televisions and streaming boxes. In total, 168.1 million people will use an internet-connected TV in 2017, up 10.1 percent over the 2016 number.
Leading the category is smart televisions, with nearly half of all connected viewers at 81.2 million users in 2017. Smart TV growth has led the overall increase, with a 30.8 percent increase in 2017.
Roku has been the main beneficiary of the growth. The survey company sees a 19.3 percent growth since the last measurement period, with 38.9 million Americans using a Roku-equipped device.
Not made clear by the study is how the devices are being used. While the survey measures actual users, it is not clear if the Roku televisions are being used for regular cable programming with the Roku streaming system idle, or if they are actively being used for internet streaming.
Likewise, it isn't clear if the Apple TV is being used for streaming user content from iTunes, or from an iOS device through AirPlay.
Roku's closet competitor is Google's Chromecast, which should have 36.9 million users this year, roughly 22 percent of connected TV users. Amazon Fire TV is predicted to see 35.8 million users in 2017, holding 21.3 percent of connected TV users.
The Apple TV is fourth, with 21.3 million users sitting at around 12.7 percent of all connected TV users. The study publishers see that growing by four million by the end of 2021, but it does not appear that the study's predictions reflect a rumored 4K update to the Apple TV hardware, nor the forthcoming addition of Amazon Prime Video to the device.
"Apple TV has been held back by the absence of a compelling content offering, a lack of support for increasingly popular Amazon video content and a much higher price bracket than its competitors," principal video analyst at eMarketer Paul Verna said. "Apple TV devices currently start at $150, whereas Google, Amazon and Roku all sell streaming sticks that are priced well below $40."
The study, collated by eMarketer sees explosive growth in internet-connected televisions and streaming boxes. In total, 168.1 million people will use an internet-connected TV in 2017, up 10.1 percent over the 2016 number.
Leading the category is smart televisions, with nearly half of all connected viewers at 81.2 million users in 2017. Smart TV growth has led the overall increase, with a 30.8 percent increase in 2017.
Roku has been the main beneficiary of the growth. The survey company sees a 19.3 percent growth since the last measurement period, with 38.9 million Americans using a Roku-equipped device.
Not made clear by the study is how the devices are being used. While the survey measures actual users, it is not clear if the Roku televisions are being used for regular cable programming with the Roku streaming system idle, or if they are actively being used for internet streaming.
Likewise, it isn't clear if the Apple TV is being used for streaming user content from iTunes, or from an iOS device through AirPlay.
Roku's closet competitor is Google's Chromecast, which should have 36.9 million users this year, roughly 22 percent of connected TV users. Amazon Fire TV is predicted to see 35.8 million users in 2017, holding 21.3 percent of connected TV users.
The Apple TV is fourth, with 21.3 million users sitting at around 12.7 percent of all connected TV users. The study publishers see that growing by four million by the end of 2021, but it does not appear that the study's predictions reflect a rumored 4K update to the Apple TV hardware, nor the forthcoming addition of Amazon Prime Video to the device.
"Apple TV has been held back by the absence of a compelling content offering, a lack of support for increasingly popular Amazon video content and a much higher price bracket than its competitors," principal video analyst at eMarketer Paul Verna said. "Apple TV devices currently start at $150, whereas Google, Amazon and Roku all sell streaming sticks that are priced well below $40."
Comments
The AppleTVs of course integrates with your other Apple devices, so you have your pictures, movies, Apple Music, etc. on your TV. You have Siri which is handy, and you can even control HomeKit devices. It's nice using Siri on my TV to adjust the thermostat in the house, or just to look up what TV show is available on what app. It operates very similar to an iPad or iPhone so it's easy to operate. To setup your AppleTV, you can just hold your iPad or iPhone close to it, and it will automatically transfer your Apple account info, apps, settings, etc., and connect to WiFi in one step.
Pretty much no one pays extra for a smart TV without using the smart features.
"Leading the category is smart televisions, with nearly half of all connected viewers at 81.2 million users in 2017. "
This is what I would like to see broken down. The major players here:
Samsung's Tizen smart TV platform (originally Intel's smartphone platform that Samsung bought to use for their Android competitor)
LG's webOS smart TV platform (again originally intended for smartphones by Palm and HP but they gave up without really trying thanks to the iPhone then LG bought it to use for their TVs)
Roku's platform: the most popular platform not tied to a single manufacturer
Firefox TV: technically was not manufacturer-specific but in practice was only adopted only by Panasonic, receives no more support from Mozilla but Panasonic is keeping it going for now
Android TV: lack of adoption by Samsung and LG nearly killed their chances, as did Google's stupidly refusing to release a $40 dongle to compete with the Roku and Fire TV streaming sticks (because they didn't want to cannibalize Chromecast). However, Sony uses it for their smart Bravia smart TV line, plus a bunch of smaller players (Philips, RCA, Sharp, TCL, LeCo, Haier). Many of the Android TV-based smart TV manufacturers make and sell Roku-based smart TVs also (LeCo, TCL, Haier for example) which ruined Google's hopes of dominating the cheap smart TV market as they do the cheap phone market.
If Samsung, LG and Sony releases numbers on the amount of smart TVs that they move, the media never sees fit to report them. The other OEMs either don't release this data, or the media doesn't report/analyze it. Variety claims that Roku has a 13% smart TV share, which is a lot lower than I thought, but then again that is up from 8%. Google claims that they see about half a million Android TV activations a year, nearly all of which are almost certain to be Sony Bravia smart TVs.
IMHO, competing companies that bundle internet channels, need to get on board- YouTube, PSVue, DirectTV NOW, et. al.
On a side note...where the hell is Apple in this? Why doesn't Apple have their own service yet? My hope is that they're wanting to do something a little different that takes a little more upfront work between the networks and what Apple has to do on the backend. Otherwise...there's no excuse!
I too think the AppleTV remote in general is a pain to use. I wish it would be more like a Wii remote, or what LG does with their remotes where you put the remote with some sort of pointer on the screen with where you want to go instead of using this overly sensitive very small trackpad type thing that in the end, doesn't work very well. Why can't Apple get pointing devices down? They can't make a good mouse to save the company and they can't make a freaking remote that easy to use. And I know I'll get some replying back that they don't have any issues with the remote, well good for you!
Add on the security, HomeKit compatibility, as well as compatibility with all of my other Apple devices and services and I feel safe to say the Apple is the winner here. The best part about having less market share is that Apple cannot be justly accused of holding a monopoly in this area, similar to music streaming with Spotify (who has more subscribers so cannot appear valid in their lame victim claims).
If Google or Hulu became a full provider, I would switch.
Too many providers are not fully integrated with AppleTV to take full advantage of it. Apple needs to promote that more.
If Apple can nail it in graphics we'll see gamers switch. Right now no one is running out to buy an TV for games and that's a giant market right now.
I remember Sony being scared when they found out Apple was releasing a box with games.
In terms of marketshare growth, Apple needs to go Jobsian and do the hard thing; create the best UX by forcing aggregation of movies & TV show content via their TV App, shutting down 3rd party Apps and constraining new Apps to non-TV shows/movie categories.