Report: Apple TV Devices Lag Far Behind Roku, Fire TV in Market Penetration
Apple fans have always been notoriously attached to the family of products offered by the tech giant. But new research from the global insights agency Interpret shows that outside of that rabidly loyal fan base, Apple TV devices are struggling to compete with other streaming devices.
Data from Interpret, as reported by Media Play News, shows that only 7.5% of users who own an internet-enabled video streaming media device that connects to their TV said they used an Apple TV. That’s far behind the 24.9% of respondents said they used a Roku device, and the 16.5% who said they streamed via an Amazon Fire TV device.
The gap widens even further when smart TVs are taken into account. Both Amazon and Roku manufacture their own smart TVs (or license that manufacturing to third party television makers) that run on their respective operating systems. Apple does not currently offer a line of smart TVs, which limits the reach of its tvOS to Apple TV streaming devices.
So what’s behind the starkly lower rate of Apple TV penetration versus its leading competitors? One of the biggest factors is likely price. Both of the Apple TV 4K streaming boxes currently available retail for over $100, whereas Roku offers a 4K-enabled streaming stick for $50 (currently on sale for 50% off).
Apple TV boxes may also have more features than customers may feel they need in a streaming device. Users may feel they’ll never utilize the 64-128GB of storage currently offered by the newest Apple TV 4K model. Being powered by an A15 Bionic chip is an impressive stat for those in the industry, but the average consumer likely has little idea of what that means or why it is important.
Users also may feel that they don’t use Apple apps, like Apple TV+ or iTunes, enough to justify the purchase of an Apple product to stream on. Apple has done an excellent job of integrating its apps with each other and making its platforms cohesive, but that may be causing a perception among consumers that using Apple products is an “all-or-nothing” proposition.
Apple is still in a good position overall as a company. The company recently announced that it had added so much new content to its streaming service Apple TV+ that it felt comfortable raising the price of a subscription. Apple also lately laid out more details on its deal with Major League Soccer to stream every game for the next 10 years. Still, the low market penetration numbers of Apple TV devices must be discouraging to company executives, and it may lead to changes in the way the company makes and markets those devices.
Apple TV
Apple TV is a streaming device that can be used to watch Live TV Streaming Services and On Demand Streaming Services.
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