Streaming device production is the latest industry to take a hit from inflation, with reports from S&P Global Market Intelligence estimating a 1.2% decline in shipments, bringing the overall unit count down to 80 million in 2022.
Subsidiary media research group of S&P Kagan has found that though the demand for streaming had a massive spike during the early pandemic, manufacturers are now struggling to keep up with supply which has become greatly depleted in 2021 and 2022.
One of the biggest contributors to this supply chain issue has been a shortage in certain chips and components which has severely affected new hardware manufacturing post-pandemic. This in turn prevents vendors from overhauling product lines and updating inventory, bringing market growth to a hard stop.
Though the current market situation is less than ideal, Kagan remains confident that it will stabilize and grow further in 2023 and beyond. S&P’s analysis projects a massive market push that could boost shipments of streaming media devices (SMDs) to nearly 100 million units by 2026.
“The primary challenge to a steeper growth curve for SMDs is the persistent evolution in smart TV interfaces and processing power,” said Neil Barbour, research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “As smart TVs become more capable streamers, there is less demand for external hardware solutions. SMD vendors appear to recognize the threat and have actively sought partnerships to deploy their operating systems on smart TVs.”