Google reported its earnings report yesterday, where it shared some numbers for the Chromecast dongle. It was the top selling streaming device in US for 2014, according to NPD. Users have pressed the “cast” button more than 1 billion times.
And 1 billion cast sessions
Apple confirmed that it has sold 25 million Apple TVs, with 5 million of those sold from April 2014 to December 2014. That probably means sales stand somewhere around 6-7 million globally for 2014.
Google still refuses to give sales numbers for Chromecast, but instead refers to analyst group NPD. The group says that Chromecast was the best-selling streaming device in the US in 2014. A different analyst group said that Roku was still leading in the US by Q3 2014, so Chromecast most have overtaken it in Q4.
Of course there are many other markets than the US, so it is hard to compare the numbers to sales of Apple TV. No numbers for total install base were provided, but it is clear that people love the Chromecast.
Google also confirmed that users have pressed the cast button 1 billion times. A cast session is defined by a “cast press”, so if you are watching five YouTube videos in a row with one press, it will be counted as one cast session. Usage per device is up 60 percent, according to Google’s Omid Kordestani.
The Google Cast technology will soon be integrated in a range of Sony, Sharp and Philips TVs with built-in Android TV. Google also announced “Cast for audio” at CES 2015 that will allow you to cast music and audio to speakers and other devices. Google Cast is slowly but firmly climbing to where Apple Airplay has been for years.
