• by Wayne Friedman , December 15, 2023

The best-selling televisions in the U.S. ranked by smart TV operating system are Samsung and Roku -- each with roughly a 19% share of the market in 2023, according to research from Guggenheim Securities.

Roku, through its Roku operating system (OS), was a big loser in share year-over-year -- down from a 29% share a year ago. Samsung (with its Tizen OS) also lost ground, from a 24% share in 2022. 

Roku’s decline “was largely driven by a greater proportion of top-selling TCL Smart TV’s utilizing the Android OS (69%) vs. the Roku OS (23%).” according to analysis. A year ago 97% of top-selling TCL smart TVs used the Roku OS.

Amazon Fire TV branded sets also dropped slightly to 17% from 19% a year ago.

Roku, Samsung, and Amazon gave up share to new and upcoming TV set makers featuring their own proprietary systems. 

Guggenheim says the Vizio (Smartcast) LG (webOS), and multiple TV brands for Android TV have climbed in share -- now at 18%, 14% and 9% respectively.

This year, Comcast/Charter Communications started up another smart TV brand with its own OS -- Xumo TV. Guggenheim said it has around a 2% share currently. 

The estimated data compiled here comes from four major U.S. retailers -- Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart -- during early December 2023. 

In a separate release, estimated global smart TV shipments will drop 2.1% to 197 million units this year, according to TrendForce.

This is the first time in a decade that sales of TV sets have fallen below 200 million units. This year’s drop follows a 4% decline in 2022 from 2021.