According to a new report from Conviva, Samsung’s Tizen was the most popular TV platform in Europe during the second quarter of 2021, accounting for 19% of total big screen viewing time across the region. In a fragmented marketplace, Google’s Chromecast was the second most used service, at 12%, while rival smart TV manufacturer LG came in close behind with a 10% share, a figure matched by Google's Android TV.
Across the pond, there was far less brand diversity as Roku dominated the North American market with a 38% share of viewing time, followed by Amazon Fire TV at 21% and Samsung TV at 10%.
The report – which looks at the first half of 2021 – shows that, even as viewers worldwide start to return to a more mobile way of life, streaming numbers have continued to grow, particularly on smart TVs – albeit at more modest rates than during the pandemic media boom.
Overall, video streaming grew worldwide by 13% year-on-year in Q2 of 2021, with big screens accounting for a massive 73% of viewing time, up from 55% in 2019. They were followed by phones (11%), PCs (10%) and tablets (5%).
Roku maintained a strong global foothold with a 31% total share of big-screen viewing time, though this figure is down from 43% in 2019.
As smart TVs continued to grow in popularity, it was LG TVs that saw the biggest global improvement, with an increase of 50%. Competitors such as Vizio (up 43%) Android TV (40%) and Samsung TV (36%) also all saw steady increases.
At the other end of the scale, Apple TV joined PlayStation and Xbox with year-on-year declines in viewing time of 6%, 17% and 21%, respectively.
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