Report: After Strong Q1, Roku is #1 Streaming TV Platform in US Beating Amazon & Sony

With more than 30 percent of US sales of connected TV devices in Q1 2019, Roku has increased its lead in streaming TV platforms according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.

The report found that there are now more than 41 million Roku-based devices in use, including Roku media streamers and Roku-based smart TVs, accounting for 15.2 percent of all media streaming devices. Roku now has a 36 percent lead over the next major platform, Sony PlayStation, in terms of devices in use. Strategy Analytics also predicts that this lead will stretch to 70 percent by the end of the year, largely as a result of the success of Roku’s Smart TV partner strategy.

While the report speculates that Roku has a landslide lead as a streaming platform, it’s quite different than publicly available reports — where Amazon maintains the top spot for active users.

In May, Amazon reported that they surpassed 34 million active accounts. This was up from the 25 million active accounts that Amazon shared back in October 2018 and 30 million announced in January. Roku on the other hand, had reached 29.1 million active accounts, up 27 million active Roku accounts shared in the fourth quarter and up nearly 19 million (+40%) since the first quarter of 2018.

The Strategy Analytics report also found that Amazon’s Fire TV OS was the second most sold streaming TV platform in Q1 2019, with 12 percent of sales, followed by Samsung’s Tizen at 11 percent and Google (Android TV and Chromecast) at 9 percent. According to the report, more than 52 million Roku-powered devices will be in use by the end of the year, accounting for 18 percent of all connected media devices.