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

Standalone Pay TV Service ARPU Declined 10% From 2016-2018: Research Company

"Traditional pay TV providers (MVPDs) have faced continued subscriber losses due to increasing consumer choice from OTT services, so they are deploying skinny bundles and vMVPD services to create more...

Apple's Services Push Gives It a Fresh Incentive to Launch a New Apple TV

Apple TV's share of the streaming player market is still believed to be well below that of Roku (ROKU - Get Report) and Amazon's. A survey done by research firm Parks Associates indicated that Apple T...

Disney+ Still Lacks an Amazon Fire TV App a Week Away from Launch

But with Fire TV and Roku somewhat bilaterally controlling 70% of the U.S. OTT player market, according to a Parks Associates report released in July, omission on the latter would seem counterintuitiv...

Consumers' Dependence on Broadband Gives Comcast a Streaming Opportunity

Most Americans would likely agree that access to high-speed internet makes life much easier and more enjoyable. Technology market research firm Parks Associates has quantified the gut feeling. As of l...