For the second year in a row, Roku is the top-selling Smart TV OS.
Between January 3, 2021-December 4, 2021 – Roku TV held the top spot on NPD’s Weekly Retail Tracking Service. Roku TV models range from 24-inch to 75-inch 4K HDR and are available from more than 15 TV OEMs in the U.S., Canada, UK, Mexico, and Brazil.
In 2021, some of the major brands that use the Roku OS include TCL, Hisense, Element, Hitachi, JVC, Magnavox, onn. (Walmart-brand), Philips, RCA and Sanyo.
To kickoff the new year, Roku has announced a new partnership with Sharp, which will now make Sharp Roku TV models in HD and 4K TV versions launching in 2022. The company also announced two new Roku TV partners in Mexico with Aiwa and HKPRO.
“Sharp, like Roku, is an award-winning, household known brand and we look forward to a productive partnership together in the US,” says Mustafa Ozgen, GM & SVP of Account Acquisitions, Roku. “We both firmly believe that the power and ease of use of Roku TV, combined with the Sharp brand promise of ‘simply better living’ makes an appealing combination for customers looking for a great TV experience.”
“We are excited to collaborate with Roku and equip our new HD and 4K UHD TVs with their award-winning Operating System (OS),” said Jim Sanduski, President of Sharp Home Electronics Company of America. “Pairing our long-standing heritage in display technology with Roku’s best-in-class, easy-to-use interface is a winning combination for our consumers.”
In Q1 2021, Roku said that Roku OS said that they were the No. 1 OS for smart TVs sold in the U.S and Canada, where more than 1 in 3 smart TVs sold are a Roku TV model. They also claimed the No. 2 OS overall spot (the No. 1 licensed OS) for smart TVs sold in Mexico.
In Q4 2021 however, Roku warned in their investor letter that U.S. TV sales in Q3 fell below pre-COVID 2019 levels, as the result of inventory challenges for Roku TV OEM partners.
Roku has faced more competition in the TV OS space, with the Android TV becoming a more integrated option for manufacturers like TCL and Sony.
Amazon has also launched their own line of Fire TV televisions with their Omni series, building on their existing Fire TV Edition televisions. The program has 150 Fire TV Edition models in more than 10 countries, from brands like Grundig, JVC, Onida and Anker and retailers like Best Buy.
Walmart has also launched Comcast’s XClass TV’s in their stores, which is based on their X1 platform.