Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Roku OS Missing Features Explained: Discovery and Developer Limits

Roku's market position has a way of making the platform look more capable than it is. Across U.S. broadband households, Roku OS accounts for 28% of connected TV platform usage, ahead of Samsung Tizen at 23%, with Amazon Fire TV, LG webOS, and Vizio SmartCast trailing at a distance, according to Parks Associates research.    

Parks Associates Director Michael Goodman puts the stakes plainly: operating systems determine what content consumers see, how services are positioned, and how advertising is delivered. With AI-driven search and  personalization becoming the new competitive standard for TV operating systems, the firm argues that platform control will only matter more in the years ahead. This is the context in which Roku's specific shortcomings land.           

What they may not yet prove is that Roku has closed the gap on the deeper AI-driven discovery layer Parks Associates identifies as the next competitive frontier. The firm argues that AI-driven personalization, the kind that doesn't just catalog content but anticipates it, is where platform competition is heading. Roku's What to Watch feature aggregates titles across services, which is useful.

Roku's 28% share is stable and its value proposition is real. According to Parks Associates, the platform earns its position for a wide range of users, particularly those who primarily want free content, simple setup, and a reliable experience without active management. Nothing in this analysis changes that.

Parks Associates projects that AI-driven personalization will become the standard competitive axis for TV operating systems in the coming years, with platform ecosystems growing more consequential as that shift plays out.

From the Cord-Cutters.gadgethacks article, "Roku vs other smart TV platforms: default choice versus deliberate choice

Previously In The News

Self-directing the hotel room experience

The panel of experts included Anna Scozzafava, VP/general manager, extended stay brands, strategy & operations, Choice Hotels International; Ron Pohl, president, international operations, BWH Hotels a...

Amazon Shuts Down Smart Home for a Week Over Racist Slur Claim

In May, a white paper by Parks Associates, a market research firm, compiled with Iris, a cyber protection company, found among 10,000 internet-connected households surveyed, nearly half reported exper...

Music Piracy Is Still a Problem — But It’s a Manageable One

Film piracy increased by 38.6% last year, according to anti-piracy tech company Muso, and by 2027 the streaming video on-demand business could lose $113 billion annually from content theft, per an Apr...

Study: Rural Viewers Love Their Local TV Channels More Than Ever

Those who use over-the-air antennas are a significant slice of the broadband universe. Parks Associates said that about one-quarter of U.S. broadband households used an antenna to watch local broadcas...