Apple TV currently holds just a 2% share in the streaming device market

A new report from Strategy Analytics on the state of the streaming device market puts the market share of Apple TV and tvOS at two percent. While the market is heavily fragmented across a number of brands and streaming platforms, Samsung, Sony, and LG hold the top three spots for hardware share in a now 1.1 billion device market. In terms of software, the largest cut of the pie belongs to "Other," with Tizen and WebOS taking the next two spots.

The global population of TV and video streaming devices has now exceeded 1.1 billion, according to the latest analysis from Strategy Analytics' TV Streaming Platforms service. The research, which tracks quarterly deployments of TV and video streaming devices across 27 major countries, finds that Samsung is the leading brand, with 14% of devices in use, followed by Sony (12%), LG (8%), Hisense (5%), TCL (5%) and Amazon (5%). The analysis also shows that the Tizen platform is the leading player in TV streaming, accounting for 11% of deployed devices, followed by WebOS (7%), PlayStation (7%), Roku OS (5%), Fire OS (5%), Android TV (4%) and Xbox (4%). The platform environment is still relatively fragmented since many older, often proprietary systems are still in use.

David Watkins, the Director at Strategy Analytics, says that content owners and developers have a complicated landscape to work in to ensure that their services get to as many households as possible.

"Over-the-top TV and video streaming to the TV is a complex and evolving landscape compared to mobile devices, where only two platforms dominate. Content owners and developers need to consider carefully how to target their resources and strategy towards specific brands and platforms, since geographical deployment patterns vary enormously. Frequently updated, tactical tracking of platform deployments is a valuable tool in ensuring that services are reaching their highest potential audience."

David Mercer, Vice President of Media and Intelligent Home, added that the firm expects streaming services will eventually dominate the television industry.

"As traditional television and video platforms continue to decline, TV streaming represents the future of television and video. Over the next decade or so we expect internet streaming to dominate consumption of television and video content across much of the world. This research reflects the early stages in the evolution of the platforms which will come to dominate this ecosystem for many years to come."

Apple plans to launch tvOS 14 in the fall. The new software update will include picture-in-picture, enhanced privacy features, and new HomeKit integrations. If you want to know everything that's coming, check out our tvOS 14 Preview.