27% of U.S. broadband households own a streaming media device

Parks Associates announced new research today showing 27% of U.S. broadband households now own a streaming media device and nearly 90% of these households have these devices connected to the Internet. The firm’s Q1 2015 consumer survey reveals more consumers bought a streaming media device than a Blu-ray player in the last 12 months and these devices have the highest connection rate among the top CE categories. By comparison, 77% of the households with a smart TV and less than 50% of those with a Blu-ray player have those devices connected.

“The paradigm is changing, thanks to the growing amount of online and OTT content available to connected CE, which has allowed streaming media devices to carve out a key niche in the connected home,” said Barbara Kraus, Director of Research, Parks Associates. “With the popularity of content streaming, CE manufacturers must innovate to create unique user experiences.”