The streaming video device market continues to evolve – amid growing consolidation around a handful of devices and platforms. Amid a slowing economy and the threat of inflation, consumer spending slowed over 2022. Despite this, consumers remained invested in streaming video consumption, with a record-high 23% of internet households subscribed to 9 or more services in Q1 2022 according the Parks Associates. The streaming device market is maturing rapidly as a result.
Both consumers and industry stakeholders are focusing on the smart TV as the entertainment centerpiece of the home. Though other platforms, such as game consoles, are still used to consume video, consumers are moving to the smart TV as their device of choice and secondarily towards streaming players. Similarly, advertisers, measurement companies, and other industry players now consider the smart TV as the key video consumption device in the home.
Competitive evolution today is as much about software and UX as hardware. Consumers are overwhelmed by streaming video choices and looking for devices to simplify their experience.
Consumers frequently face a confusing overload of service and content choices, and the industry is competing to deliver evolved user experiences that address this via content-first interfaces, personalized super-aggregation, and more.
The smart TV and streaming media player markets are heavily stratified. Ecosystem giants and platform owners dominate today's streaming device market. Samsung, Roku, Amazon, LG, Vizio, and
Google are the main players controlling the point of consumption and are expected to only become more powerful within the streaming industry over time.
As the market progresses in 2023 and beyond in particularly challenging economic conditions, a higher level of competition between major ecosystem and platform vendors is expected to benefit consumers. However, the streaming video device market has become increasingly unattractive for new entrants. Smart TV adoption is rising while streaming media players have plateaued; both remain important.
Game console adoption continues to trend downward, in contrast. Most TV models are now smart TVs, so the natural replacement cycle continues to drive incremental adoption. Smart TVs are the dominant video consumption device. Samsung has the most vital position in the smart TV market by a wide margin. Amazon now leads the market for streaming media players, with Roku closely behind it.
