Global ownership of connected TV devices, including smart...

Global ownership of connected TV devices, including smart TVs, smart Blu-ray players, Internet-enabled game consoles and digital media streamers, grew 7 percent sequentially in Q2 from Q1 and 34 percent compared with Q2 last year, Strategy Analytics said Thursday. Growing demand for devices “that facilitate the streaming of online video to the large screen TV is creating a highly competitive environment with no fewer than 16 major technology brands accounting for 90 percent of devices in use,” it said. Key findings: (1) One in every four connected TV devices installed in homes around the world is a Sony-branded product, while the “combined footprint” of Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung and Sony is 60 percent of all devices in use. (2) Samsung enjoyed the highest unit increase to its installed base of connected TV devices during the quarter. (3) Apple remained the leading brand of digital media streamer, but its share dropped to under 30 percent for the first time “in the face of competition from Google’s Chromecast, Amazon’s Fire TV and Roku,” it said.