Roku outpaces Apple TV in US sales growth and usage for 2013, report says

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited July 2014
A report published on Wednesday claims set-top media streamers like the Apple TV will be in one out of every four homes by 2015, but market growth of Apple's device is being outpaced by sector giant Roku, at least in the U.S.




In its report, "The Evolving Market For Streaming Media Devices," market research firm Parks Associates says media streaming device sales are on the rise and will be in more than 25 percent of U.S. homes by 2015 as major tech companies like Apple, Google and Amazon fight for a spot in consumers' living rooms.

Currently leading the pack is Roku, which according to the study accounted for 46 percent of all U.S. set-top streamer sales in 2013. The company's products are also touted as the "most used" devices in the nation, as 44 percent of households that own at least one streaming device use a Roku. The Apple TV came in a distant second with a 26 percent share of both sales and usage.

As Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, emerges as a new competitor in this space, it could awaken the sleeping giant that is Apple." - Parks Associates research director Barbara KrausThe gap between the two top companies has widened since the start of 2013, when Roku usage was at 37 percent and Apple at 24 percent. Globally, however, Apple said it sold some 20 million units as of April 2014, compared to the 8 million units Roku sold by the end of 2013.

"While approximately 50 percent of U.S. households have at least one Apple product, such as an iPhone or iPad, the company has not yet been able to leverage this success for its Apple TV offering," said Barbara Kraus, research director at Parks Associates. "Apple has not committed support and promotion to its Apple TV product line in the U.S., and its sales reflect this fact. As Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, emerges as a new competitor in this space, it could awaken the sleeping giant that is Apple."

The firm also noted that stick-type streamers encroached on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and other "boxes" during 2013. For example, Google's Chromecast reportedly sold just as many units in six months as Roku moved in all of 2013. Usage of the Chromecast has been in decline, however, suggesting popularity of the stick format is ebbing.

Despite flagging interest in Chromecast, Google isn't giving up on the living room and recently announced Android TV, its third foray into the streaming market. As with the Android mobile OS, Google will focus on platform development, leaving hardware production up to OEMs. Companies like Sony, Sharp and Philips have already signed on to make Android TV-powered television sets that will debut in 2015.

Camera-equipped Apple TV concept via Brightcove.


Apple is also rumored to be working on a new Apple TV product that is expected to debut by the end of the year. Not much is known about the device, though insiders believe the company will include a motion control interface akin to Microsoft's Kinect.

Some have speculated that Apple's upcoming iOS 8 HomeKit framework for supporting smart home products could see integration with a new Apple TV. Serving as a centralized control hub for lights, thermostats and other connected appliances, Apple's set-top streamer would expand its role from content consumption device to necessary cog in a smart home's ecosystem.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    Everyone is getting into streaming video. Xbone, PS4, Amazon. I don't think Wii U or OUYA can afford not to be streaming video.
  • Reply 2 of 47
    I hadn't gotten an AppleTV in the longest time because I was able to connect my iPad directly to my TV and stream video from Netflix or iTunes Store. AppleTV however makes it that much more convenient.
  • Reply 3 of 47
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Is Apple TV still a hobby for Apple, or have they officially changed their position?

  • Reply 4 of 47
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    I'm the only one I know that has an Apple TV. My other friends have a Roku and it works.
  • Reply 5 of 47
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    bdkennedy1 wrote: »
    I'm the only one I know that has an Apple TV. My other friends have a Roku and it works.
    Does that mean you are your own friend?? And that all the others chipped together for a single Roky??

    Just kidding! Geez.... ;)
  • Reply 6 of 47
    normmnormm Posts: 653member

    The numbers look a bit suspicious, since Apple has reported sales of over 20 million units, and the US is generally at least 1/3 of its market, so that should be about 7 million units in the US, vs 8 million for Roku.  So how does Roku have such a large lead?

  • Reply 7 of 47

    I'm sure there are probably better, more sophisticated set-top devices than the Apple TV, but I can't be bothered. The ?TV just works so seamlessly with the rest of our Apple stuff that it makes anything else seem like a hassle.

  • Reply 8 of 47
    I have an Apple TV. From what I can tell, Roku doesn't give me anything more than Apple TV does. That might be because I only pay for Netflix and nothing more. Roku does seem to offer more channels that I would have to pay for -- but ain't gonna'.

    But, Apple TV does give me access to my music library, iTunes movies and good enough free channels, and the ability to display screen shots from my Macs on the TV.

    I'm cheap, and have few wants (these certainly are not needs). What can I tell you?
  • Reply 9 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    Everyone is getting into streaming video. Xbone, PS4, Amazon. I don't think Wii U or OUYA can afford not to be streaming video.



    I have a Wii U, and it can stream through Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Youtube through official apps as well as numerous other HTML5 based websites through its webkit based browser (which can multitask while games are running). I have even setup a Plex server with a web interface on my Mac Mini to stream video primarily to devices around the house and it works just fine on Wii U (although I will admit that the Plex web interface is not as good as the native iPad app). I am not too sure about Ouya, since I do not own one, but I have heard others have been able to get Netflix to work on it by using the Play Store APK file.

  • Reply 10 of 47
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    normm wrote: »
    The numbers look a bit suspicious, since Apple has reported sales of over 20 million units, and the US is generally at least 1/3 of its market, so that should be about 7 million units in the US, vs 8 million for Roku.  So how does Roku have such a large lead?

    It's suspicious but not really a big deal either way. The Roku is a good device for those that aren't running other Apple products in their home, and Apple unfortunately has a few issues with the Apple TV that I can see would be annoying for the average user that does have an all Apple setup. I suspect we'll be getting a lot of changes soon enough.
  • Reply 11 of 47
    macslutmacslut Posts: 514member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post

     

    Is Apple TV still a hobby for Apple, or have they officially changed their position?


     

    Their position has officially changed to "neglected hobby", soon to be a "forgotten hobby".

     

    :(

  • Reply 12 of 47
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Some have speculated that Apple's upcoming iOS 8 HomeKit framework for supporting smart home products could see integration with a new Apple TV. Serving as a centralized control hub for lights, thermostats and other connected appliances, Apple's set-top streamer would expand its role from content consumption device to necessary cog in a smart home's ecosystem.

     

    If an AppleTV is required for each TV in the house, how can it serve as a centralized hub?  

    Will they be configured in some distributed master/delegate fashion?  I don't think so.  

    Different lighting systems already have their own centralized control hub.

     

    A separate media aggregation / access controller box may be introduced with the next AppleTV to speed up streaming from ISPs.

  • Reply 13 of 47
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    macslut wrote: »
    Their position has officially changed to "neglected hobby", soon to be a "forgotten hobby".

    :(
    And yet they've done more for the Apple TV in the past year than in previous years, have gleefully announced the sales data, and have given it its own button on the Apple Store. Good luck on your hypothesis of it being canned or never being updated again like the iPod Classic.
  • Reply 14 of 47
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    I've had every version of AppleTV since the beginning. It has essentially remained the same, except for a few minor tweaks. It is somewhat surprisingly frustrating and mediocre hardware offering relative to its vaunted potential and the length of time it's been around.

    It's a rather long time for something to wallow in 'hobby' status. So this bit of news is not at all surprising.
  • Reply 15 of 47
    misamisa Posts: 827member
    Everyone is getting into streaming video. Xbone, PS4, Amazon. I don't think Wii U or OUYA can afford not to be streaming video.

    I use my Wii U for both Netflix and HTML5 development. It's HTML5 web browser is artificially limited, making it pretty darn hard to make javascript games work on it. (It's not as weak as the 3DS browser, but both are too weak that they tend to die when you run a javascript benchmark or various feature tests from Cocos2d/easelJS.)

    I don't watch Netflix on my windows computers because it's a nuisance to get the the streaming to work. I was previously using the Xbox 360 S until the hard drive died in it for Netflix, but had canceled Netflix before the Xbox Gold ran out at that time.

    The Wii U can do Super HD, the Xbox 360 does not. The Wii U is the perfect console for using with Netflix because of the tablet controller, where as the other consoles (Xbox360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4) don't come with necessary/usable input devices.)

    The Roku 3 (4200) is technically a more powerful part than the Apple TV current generation. But we are talking about specifically designed SoC's, so improving the hardware in these devices is only to make them more capable or feature parity with competitors devices. No competitors, no need to update. What's AppleTV and Roku's competitors? A whole lot of other failures plus failing Android-based Google SmartTV's. So there is no winner here. Apple will inevitably update the AppleTV to the A7/A8 64bit, perhaps to enable h.265 and UHD, but I don't see a pressing need for this until there is content. Only Google has the potential to win here, and only those who have Google Fiber and UHD, I doubt there's more than a dozen people with that.
  • Reply 16 of 47
    eideardeideard Posts: 428member
    This falls into the sad and common category of "reports" that are based on editorial opinion - not serious analysis.

    Do I think Apple has lagged the market potential for AppleTV? You betcha. There are a number of features where they should have provided leadership and access.

    But, why listen to me? I'm the guy who kept sending emails years ago to Steve Jobs to buy DirecTV and solve lots of content problems in one shot. Now, a stodgy outfit like AT&T shuts that door...for double the price Apple could have paid in 2010.
  • Reply 17 of 47
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    The firm also noted that stick-type streamers encroached on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and other "boxes" during 2013. For example reportedly sold just as many units in six months as Roku moved in all of 2013. Usage of the Chromecast has been in decline, however, suggesting popularity of the stick format is ebbing.

    Despite flagging interest in Chromecast...

    http://gigaom.com/2014/07/01/google-to-critics-actually-chromecast-usage-is-up/
  • Reply 18 of 47
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    normm wrote: »
    The numbers look a bit suspicious, since Apple has reported sales of over 20 million units, and the US is generally at least 1/3 of its market, so that should be about 7 million units in the US, vs 8 million for Roku.  So how does Roku have such a large lead?

    Apple's numbers are global, whereas Roku's numbers are from only a few select countries.
  • Reply 19 of 47
    Well, the jump could be due to the XBMC group is using it to reimage the Roku for XBMC device. It's cheaper then building your own system and run's well on the Roku.
  • Reply 20 of 47
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    hawkblade wrote: »
    Well, the jump could be due to the XBMC group is using it to reimage the Roku for XBMC device. It's cheaper then building your own system and run's well on the Roku.

    When did that happen? As far as I know XBMC can't be installed on a Roku. People that want to use XBMC have been doing so on Android powered STBs.
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