TV Everywhere International - Volume 13 No 2 TV EVERYWHERE_Vol 13 No 2 | Page 28

News

News

Roku tops streaming media players

Recent findings from Parks Associates indicate that Roku is increasing its lead in the streaming media player landscape. As of Q1 2017, 37 % of streaming media players owned by US broadband households are Roku devices, up from onethird in Q1 2016. The firm’ s latest industry report- Reinventing CE: Transforming Devices to Service Platforms- shows this increase in share of installed base puts Roku further ahead of its main competitors Amazon, Google, and Apple.

“ Roku emerged early as a US market leader for streaming media players, and the company
has held firmly to that position,” said Glenn Hower, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates.“ Higher-priced devices, such as the Apple TV, have not been able to keep up with lowpriced and readily available Roku devices, which can be found at Walmart for as low as $ 29.99.”
According to Parks Associates, of the other major players in this market, only Amazon’ s Fire TV had an increase in its share of installed base during the same timeframe. Amazon increased its share from 16 % to 24 % of streaming media players owned by US broadband households, which moved the e-tailer ahead of Google for second place in streaming media player adoption. Google’ s Chromecast now holds an 18 % share of installed base, while Apple’ s share fell to 15 %.
“ One-third of US broadband households own a streaming media player,” Hower said.“ The growth of the US OTT market provided consumers with unprecedented ease of access to video content. These streaming media devices make for quick and easy access to the top OTT libraries.”
Additional findings:
• 45 % of US broadband households own a smart TV.
• Parks Associates estimates 15.6 million smart speakers with personal digital assistants were sold in the US in 2016.
• Nearly one-half of all US broadband households own a gaming console.
Vubiquity, Oi ondemand content licensing deal
Premium content services
provider Vubiquity has signed a deal with Oi in Brazil that will provide customers with exclusive access to on-demand video content.
The deal allows customers to access Oi Play content, which is already available to the Oi TV customer base( 1.4m), and has now also launched for customers who contract to the Broadband service( Oi Total Play) without the need for a TV sub.
Both new and existing Oi Total combo customers will be able to view exclusive content from more than 50 channels
and over 30,000 on-demand titles. This will include content from HBO Go, Discovery Kids, Crackle, WatchESPN, Fox Play, Globosat Play, and many more.
Vubiquity will also provide an SVoD content library, dubbed‘ Coleção Oi’ with over 2,500 titles, offering a solution for a more comprehensive viewing experience for customers. This is based on its current presence in Latin America, expanding its production of high quality content throughout the region.
Adam Poulter, managing director of Vubiquity International, said:“ It is essential that in an ever
changing and diverse media landscape, customers are able to access high-quality content on any device. In no region is this need more acute than in Latin America, where a high proportion of content is consumed through on-demand services.”
“ We are delighted to be working with Oi by providing this important rollout of digital media services to new and existing customers. This deal recognizes the needs of our customers by providing a mixture of top-quality local content with leading Hollywood titles. This demonstrates our unique understanding of
the Latin American market, and our ability to adapt to the individual needs of our customers across the globe, further establishing us as a leading content partner in emerging markets.”
Ermindo Cecchetto Neto, household and convergence segment director at Oi, said:“ Oi has its strategy focused on consumer preferences. The company identified a new customer profile and launched Oi Total Play to expand the portfolio of the combo Oi Total, which already has 1.4 million subscribers. The alliance with Vubiquity and the main TV programmers reinforces Oi’ s positioning as a distributor of the best content.”
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