• by Wayne Friedman , February 3, 2022

Although Roku and Amazon Fire TV claim near parity when it comes to U.S. monthly active users -- 56.4 million for Roku and more than 50 million for Fire TV, Conviva reports, Roku tops Amazon in the percentage of overall viewing screen time.

A fourth-quarter survey of streaming set-top-box/smart TV distributors reveals that Roku commands a 41% share of big-screen viewing time in North America, with Amazon Fire TV at 18%.

Conviva says Roku is up 12% in streaming time versus the same period in 2020, while Amazon Fire TV is 7% lower.

Among other streaming set-top-box/smart TV distributors, Samsung TV has 10% share (up 27% from a year ago), with LG TV at 5% share (36% higher); and Android TV with 3% share (growing 42% versus Q4 2020).

In addition to Amazon Fire TV losing ground, Apple TV is at 6% share -- slipping 1% from its Q4 2020 levels -- while Sony Playstation is at 4% share (off 12%); and Microsoft’s Xbox, 5% share (losing 19%).

Although not in the forefront in North America, Amazon Fire TV performs better that Roku in nearly all other major global markets -- including Europe (12% share for Fire TV to Roku’s 5%) and Asia (19% share for Fire TV; Roku, 0.2%).

Still, there is a more mixed picture when it comes to streaming video distributors globally.

In Europe and South America, for example, Samsung TV is the leading provider in terms of streaming viewing screen time -- at a 20% and 29% share respectively.

In Asia, LG TV is far and away the most-viewed service -- a 51% share. Streaming server, Linux, leads Africa a 35% share.

Conviva’s data is collected using proprietary sensor technology with a global footprint of more than 500 million unique viewers watching 200 billion streams per year across nearly four billion applications streaming on devices.