Mobile, Smart TV, Apple TV, OTT - Where Should My Apps Go?
How many services are too many? Well, with over 300 streaming services in the US alone, including the recently launched Disney+, the streaming and platform wars are only heating up. However for consumers, this luxury of choice is often an illusion, as many of their favourite streaming services may not be available on their platform of choice.
Popular platforms such as mobile (iOS and Android), Samsung Tizen, LG WebOS, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku all hold market share in the living room. This has started a conversation within many media and broadcast organizations.
The all important question: which platforms should I build my apps on?
To help you get the answer, we’ll take a look at the platform ecosystem, and offer up our insights based on market data and experience. In order to make the right decision of where to build next, it is important to understand the rise of OTT streaming devices. In March 2019, 64 million homes in the US used some kind of OTT device to watch content.
OTT Device Shipments share in United States - Q1 2019
Source: Statista 2019
Roku and Amazon Fire TV Dominate
Roku and Amazon are emerging as the dominant market players in the OTT device world. In another recent report by Park and Associates seems to suggest they own about 70% of the OTT market share. Roku at 39% and Amazon at 30% respectively. This leaves players such as Apple, Samsung Tizen, and Google Chromecast competing for 30%.
However not all news is bad news for Smart TVs.
Smart TVs Are Leading in Platform Growth
Being led by the new Roku OS, Smart TVs are the fastest growing segment within OTT platforms. According to ComScore, Smart TVs powered by Roku OS grew by 3.7 million in one year.
Source: IHS Markit
While Roku’s massive jump is accredited to the boom in Chinese TV sales, Samsung has remained steady, and is also widely accepted in North America.
What About Apple TV?
Apple TV only accounted for 16% of US sales in Q1 2019. While that may seem like an insignificant number, it is important to remember Apple's key demographic. Even if Android claims 85% of global smartphone sales, developers, publishers, and broadcasters still treat Apple as their primary platform, because Apple users are willing to pay more for apps. The same could be said about subscriptions, and premium content.
Ok! So, Which Platform Should I Build On?
The answer, it seems, isn’t so simple. If you’re a large media and broadcast company, the answer might be simple. All of them. As omni-channel authentication based subscriptions continue to get popular, consumers will demand to watch content across multiple platforms. No two households will be alike.
However, if you are platform conscious. There are other factors to consider:
Where are your viewers located? What are the popular selling devices in that region?
What is your TVE ecosystem? Can your current technical stack support new platforms?
What is the demographic of your viewer? Are they likely to purchase a low-end Smart Tv or do they demand premium experiences such as Apple TV?
What is your monetization model? Does it fit your platform? What revenues can you expect from each platform?
Are you casting a wide net, or targeting a niche audience?
Ultimately, this decision is both a business and technical one. However, the data does seem to point at two dominant players for each platform. iOS and Android for mobile. Amazon and Roku for OTT devices, and Roku OS and Samsung Tizen for Smart TVs. Apple TV remains an anomaly, but it could be because of its target audience.
One piece of advice we can all agree on? Whatever platform you build on - build native.