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Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google Chromecast widened its lead in the digital media streamer market last year over devices from Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Roku. Google’s low-cost HDMI dongle for streaming Internet video to television sets grabbed 35% of the market in 2015, up from 28% in 2014, Strategy Analytics reported Tuesday. Apple TV ranked second with a 20% market share, down from 22% in 2014. Amazon Fire TV and Roku tied for third, each with a 15% market share. “Google’s puck-sized Chromecast dongle continues to have broad appeal with consumers who favor its mobile-centric approach to content access and control,” Strategy Analytics analyst David Watkins said in a statement . “The device’s portability and low price at just $35 has made it an impulse purchase for many and household ownership of multiple Chromecasts is not uncommon.” Based on cumulative shipments of digital media streamers, Apple leads the market with nearly 37 million Apple TV units sold since its launch in 2007. Chromecast is catching up fast with 27 million units sold in just 2.5-years. Roku’s Box and Streaming Stick products are third with 20 million units, followed by Amazon Fire TV with less than 10 million. Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku accounted for 85% of the 42 million digital streaming devices sold last year. But dedicated streaming media boxes and dongles accounted for 19% of the overall connected TV device market in 2015. All told, 220 million connected TV devices shipped last year, including smart TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, game consoles and streaming boxes, Strategy Analytics said. Smart TVs accounted for 54% of connected TV device shipments in 2015, reaching 120 million units, the research firm said. Samsung, LG and Sony ( SNE ) have a combined 50% share of the smart-TV market. “Our research shows that U.S. broadband homes own an average of 2.3 such devices giving them multiple means by which to stream video and audio content to the TV,” Strategy Analytics analyst Chirag Upadhyay said. “While some consumers will have a favored method, we find that most households are switching between different devices depending on the user and type of content being consumed.” Consumers increasingly are choosing to watch Internet TV services such as Netflix ( NFLX ), Hulu and YouTube. Scalper1 News
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