• by Wayne Friedman , August 23, 2017

Streaming media player Roku has improved its lead position — it commands a 37% share of U.S. broadband homes as of the first quarter of 2017.

Parks Associates says Roku is up from its 30% level in the first quarter of 2016.

Amazon's Fire TV also witnessed a gain to a 24% share, up from 22%.Two other major OTT set-top players — Google's Chromecast and Apple TV — have declined.

Chromecast now has an 18% share (from 22% a year ago) and Apple TV has a 15% share, down from 20%.

One-third of U.S. broadband homes have an OTT set-top-box player. The marketing research company also says 45% of U.S. broadband households own a smart TV.

An April 2017 survey from comScore says 40% of OTT set-top devices come from a streaming box/sticks, with 30% from smart TVs; 28% from gaming consoles; 25% from DVR/pay TV set-top boxes; and 7% from Blu-ray players.

In addition, Parks estimates 15.6 million of smart speakers with personal digital assistants were sold in the U.S. in 2016. Nearly one-half of all U.S. broadband households own a gaming console.