The Apple TV box will turn 3 years in a few months as Apple continues to hint that it has grand plans for TVs. And so for the first three quarters of 2014, Google’s Chromecast surpassed Apple TV in sales, but Roku is still leading the pack.

But Roku is still leading
Several new media streamer boxes have launched in 2013 and 2014 with Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and new Roku devices. Parks Associates releases sales reports on the US market, and the report for the first three quarters of 2014 shows that the landscape is shifting somewhat. 

Roku is still leading, but with a much smaller margin than in 2013 (46% vs. 29%). Parks did not count Chromecast sales in 2013, but has been counting in 2014, and for the first three quarters Chromecast has been selling in more units than the aging Apple TV, which is overdue for a refresh. Amazon came in fourth with 10 percent share.


Total cumulative sales of Apple TV are presumably still higher than total cumulative sales of Chromecast.

- "Nearly 50 percent of video content that U.S. consumers watch on a TV set is non-linear, up from 38 percent in 2010, and it is already the majority for people 18-44." says Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates Director of Research

Parks says that during the same period 10 percent of US households with broadband bought at least one streaming box, which is a significant number for only a three-quarter span. Game consoles are not included in the survey even though the consoles offer streaming apps.

Parks says that streaming media players will only continue to grow in popularity, and estimates that 50 million will be sold globally by 2017.

- Source: Parks Associates