Chromecast, Roku lead 2013 sales in growing video-streaming market

Chromecast and Roku gadgets accounted for more than half of the video-streaming devices sold in the U.S. in 2013, according to a new survey.

Parks Associates, a market research firm, said Chromecast and Roku each accounted for about 32% of U.S. sales of the devices, which connect to the Internet to play content from services such as Netflix and YouTube. Coming in third place was Apple TV, which accounted for 18% of 2013 U.S. sales.

Chromecast’s sales are particularly impressive considering the device was not released until July of last year, yet it was able to beat Apple and match Roku. Barbara Kraus, director of research for Parks Associates, said this was possible thanks to Chromecast’s small size, Google’s brand name and the gadget’s low $35 price point.

“It was priced very well at a nice point where it was an impulse purchase that didn’t carry really any level of risk for the purchaser,” Kraus told The Times.

Parks Associates’ data only includes sales for 2013, so there is no information about Fire TV, released by Amazon in April. But Kraus said she thinks Amazon differentiated the Fire TV enough to entice customers. The market also is still experiencing a lot of growth, leaving room for Amazon, Google, Apple and Roku to all compete comfortably for now, she said.

“There’s a lot of room for growth there,” Kraus said. “It’s a robust market and we think this is a good time to get into that market.”

Parks Associates gathered its data by surveying 10,000 U.S. broadband users. The survey carries a 3.47% margin of error.

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