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14% of Households Use Streaming Media Devices, Roku More Popular Than Apple TV

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Streaming media device use has doubled since 2011, with 14% of U.S. broadband households using products like the Apple TV or the Roku in 2013, reports Parks Associates (via CNET).

While the Apple TV has increased in popularity over the last several years, it falls short of competing product Roku. A survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households revealed that 37% used a Roku device while 24% used an Apple TV, making Roku the most used streaming set-top box in the U.S.

Parks Associates predicts that worldwide connected TV device sales will double to reach 330 million annually by 2017, with annual sales revenue increasing almost 100%.
"Innovations such as next-gen game consoles and 4K or ultra-HD TVs will boost unit sales for these devices, but overall, consumers are reluctant to replace these big-ticket items solely for smart upgrades," said Barbara Kraus, director, research, Parks Associates. "As a result, streaming video media devices will have a thriving market because they can offer innovations such as streaming video at low prices. Devices such as Roku's streaming players and Google's Chromecast will benefit from these market conditions."
Click to expand...
Despite the fact that Apple has long referred to the Apple TV as a "hobby project," the company has been working on beefing up its content offerings in recent months, most recently debuting new channels for HBO GO, WatchESPN, and more. Apple is also said to have upcoming deals in the works with Time Warner Cable and music video company VEVO.

Article Link: 14% of Households Use Streaming Media Devices, Roku More Popular Than Apple TV
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/14/14-of-households-use-streaming-media-devices-roku-more-popular-than-apple-tv/
GSPice

GSPice

macrumors 68000
Nov 24, 2008
1,632
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I could see Roku being more popular simply because it doesn't "seem" to be dependent upon other hardware/software products, i.e. iTunes, Apple media libraries, etc.
 
C

cdmoore74

macrumors 68020
Jun 24, 2010
2,413
711
And chronecast is off to a big start. I ordered a day after and still haven't received it.
 
Dulcimer

Dulcimer

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
891
688
The ATV has many problems, in my opinion: the remote, although sleek, is too small and has a limited number of buttons (there isn't even a sleep or power button!), which themselves are hard to press and make scrolling through lists a chore; connection problems between iDevices using Airplay are abound; limited content options if you're not in the States; and the ATV reeks of unused potential (App Store for games or channels, anyone?).

I'm surprised that the Apple TV has taken off as it has.
 
Earendil

Earendil

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2003
1,567
25
Washington
From the report:
"37% primarily use a Roku compared to 24% that primarily use an Apple TV."

That's 39% that they don't tell us what they are using. Since there isn't a huge "other" market here in the US, exactly what is making up the other 39%, but isn't making up enough to be worth noting in their report? 3 vendors equally splitting that would have 13% each. I imagine XBox is up there, but this report was done prior to the Chrome dongle. Any other ideas?
 
T

theheadguy

macrumors 65816
Apr 26, 2005
1,156
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california
GSPice said:
I could see Roku being more popular simply because it doesn't "seem" to be dependent upon other hardware/software products, i.e. iTunes, Apple media libraries, etc.
Click to expand...
Owning both, I can tell you AppleTV's lack of Amazon Video is what causes mine to collect dust.
 
B

Baumi

macrumors 6502
Mar 31, 2005
257
378
MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

Streaming media device use has doubled since 2011, with 14% of U.S. broadband households using products like the Apple TV or the Roku in 2013
[...]
A survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households revealed that 37% used a Roku device while 24% used an Apple TV, making Roku the most used streaming set-top box in the U.S.
Click to expand...

Before anyone else wonders about the math like I did at first: According to the report it's 14% of all broadband users vs. 37% and 24% of those who own a streaming media device, i.e. the aforementioned 14%.

So that means that roughly 3.36% of all US broadband households own an Apple TV, while 5.18% own a Roku device. (There's probably some overlap there with people owning both.)
 
UnfetteredMind

UnfetteredMind

macrumors 6502
Jun 6, 2012
451
77
Earendil said:
From the report:
"37% primarily use a Roku compared to 24% that primarily use an Apple TV."

That's 39% that they don't tell us what they are using. Since there isn't a huge "other" market here in the US, exactly what is making up the other 39%, but isn't making up enough to be worth noting in their report? 3 vendors equally splitting that would have 13% each. I imagine XBox is up there, but this report was done prior to the Chrome dongle. Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

Perhaps Blu-Ray players that allow streaming, smart TVs ... the ill-fated Logitech/Google TV device?
 
jm001

jm001

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2011
596
123
Did this report even include PS3's and XBox360 owners using PS3 Media Server? I would think those would be popular as well.
 
R

rmwebs

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2007
3,140
0
GSPice said:
I could see Roku being more popular simply because it doesn't "seem" to be dependent upon other hardware/software products, i.e. iTunes, Apple media libraries, etc.
Click to expand...

and the fact that outside the US, the Apple TV is essentially just an Airplay server and iTunes download device unless you root it.

The built in functionality we get out of it in the UK is crap. A £30 RaspberryPi with XBMC has better functionality - that shouldn't be the case.
 
R

reden

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2006
716
823
I have both 1 Roku, and and 2 Apple TVs. I wish I had 3 Rokus instead. Plex alone is such an amazing application worth buying the Roku for. Thanks to Apple's closed environment they're leaving themselves behind not allowing people to build Apps for the ATV. Apple's belief in not building cross platform is also a self-stabber.

It's probably never going to happen, but if they built apps for Android, they would open the door, allowing other mobile devices to control their hardware. I don't have an iPhone anymore, and I can't control my Apple TV, unless I buy some hacked app to talk to it or use the Apple TV's crappy remote, and there's no way I'm typing with it. Roku however, built apps for multiple platforms to control it's device.
 
iSayuSay

iSayuSay

macrumors 68040
Feb 6, 2011
3,792
906
For $99, Apple TV functionality is so darn lacking.

No USB to plug your external hard drive/thumbdrive so I could download and save my iTunes content
Tiny oversimplified remote control. Johnny Ive style indeed
Too much dependency on network content (local or internet). You're not connected, then your Apple TV is a POS collecting dust
The strongest attribute is Airplay, but it only does 720p video mirroring.. WTF?

So few you get for $99
 
iSRS

iSRS

macrumors 6502
Mar 2, 2010
468
291
Meanwhile.,.

http://m.imore.com/apple-tv-accounts-56-percent-streaming-boxes-sold-last-year
 
tbrand7

tbrand7

macrumors 6502
Feb 8, 2013
265
0
New York
MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Streaming media device use has doubled since 2011, with 14% of U.S. broadband households using products like the Apple TV or the Roku in 2013, reports Parks Associates (via CNET).

While the Apple TV has increased in popularity over the last several years, it falls short of competing product Roku. A survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households revealed that 37% used a Roku device while 24% used an Apple TV, making Roku the most used streaming set-top box in the U.S.

So, because 10,000 households have roku over Apple TV... that makes Roku the most used streaming box in the US?! Last time I checked, there's a lot more than 10,000 households in the the US. You should do a larger survey before you announce Roku as the winner.
Click to expand...
 
Carlanga

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,409
as long as the new apps keep being cable subs apps then demand won't increase.

Anyways, only a 10K sample size, lmao what a joke of a survey and article. What's worse is that MR put it up as front page sidebar news.

----------
UnfetteredMind said:
Will be interesting to see how it does. Rokus start at $50 so the Chromecast is not that much cheaper.

Link to Park Associates blog post about the report (I'm not paying $3200 for the actual report): http://www.parksassociates.com/blog/article/pr-aug2013-connected-tv
Click to expand...

It's a stupid site, 10K sample size and they are telling you there are 330million connected TV worldwide by their own prediction, sometimes people listen and pay for stupid 'research'
 
itsthenewdc

itsthenewdc

macrumors regular
Jul 10, 2008
104
124
Orlando, FL
Roku may be more popular share wise, but who wins in the revenue department? It's like the comparison between Android and iOS. Apple doesn't want to have huge marketshare and no revenue. That's always been their thing.
 
Vanilla35

Vanilla35

macrumors 68040
Apr 11, 2013
3,344
1,453
Washington D.C.
Carlanga said:
as long as the new apps keep being cable subs apps then demand won't increase.

Anyways, only a 10K sample size, lmao what a joke of a survey and article. What's worse is that MR put it up as front page sidebar news.

----------



It's a stupid site, 10K sample size and they are telling you there are 330million connected TV worldwide by their own prediction, sometimes people listen and pay for stupid 'research'
Click to expand...

You're kidding me right? Does anyone even know anything about statistics? A 10k sample is more than enough to represent something like this in statistical value. You get a smaller sample for more precise things like politics, and they even consider that to be a good size. 10k doesn't need to be 330 million if it accurately represents the demographic. That's the whole point of statistics.

Stop trying to bad mouth the results, because if you and other people haven't realized, Roku is actually a better product. Many people want to like the ATV more, but they don't. I'm sure in a few years apple will actually take the time to develop the product. But until then it is going to have to settle for second place. And we'll see where Google's Chromecast comes into play in a few months
 
M

Mickey6Pack

macrumors newbie
Aug 14, 2013
2
0
Survey's Number don't seem to match the distribution of units.

Survey basis seems to be a little off. To date Roku has sold approximately 5 million units, while AppleTV has sold over 13 million units.... A survey is only as good as it's population but the raw number's seem to show some holes in this one. Every AppleTV owner I know (and it's a good number) use theirs for streaming. I also own both, and like others use the Roku for Amazon, but prefer Apple's interface and easy of use, and use the AppleTV for the vast majority of my streaming usage.
 
J

jicon

macrumors 6502a
Nov 29, 2004
793
616
Toronto, ON
I had one of the original AppleTVs, as soon as they were available, but lacking video content at that time made it a bit frustrating. Nice to stream or play music, but that was about it. Ended up hacking it to use Boxee that opened it up a bit, but definitely was underpowered for 720p content. Ended up programming a Harmony remote so I didn't have to use the small Apple remote.

Got a Boxee Box a few years back, and that has worked great. Got a USB IR dongle so I could use Harmony again, but with Boxee going way of the dodo, looking to switch to a decent Plex player.

Because PS3 doesn't have a great interface with Plex, and can't do the 5.1 audio, I'm looking to go way of Roku soon.
 
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