So, from what it appears, or at least as it’s written, the early adoption of Chromecast by American consumers has now cooled significantly, or at least that’s the word from Parks Associates in a widely reported study.
When Google unveiled its cheap ($35) Chromecast dongle in July 2013, it quickly sold out—I mean, quick like Bruce Springsteen concerts at Madison Square Garden--and the streaming device became Everyman’s over the top viewing device. Number one with a bullet.
And why not? It’s cheap, and it gets Netflix and Hulu. What else is there to know?
People who bought it use it. Three months after the introduction, Parks reported 34% of Chromecast owners streamed video from Hulu every single day, and 43% used it to watch Netflix every day. Granted, this might have only been based on their habits for a month or maybe 45 days, but still...
Now Parks says, streaming devices are in 20% of all broadband homes. Chromecast makes up 6% of the total. The latest stories about Chromecast, however, are kind of sourpussed because, the study points out that now only 22% of Chromecast owners say that it’s the most used video device in their homes.
In a press release, John Barrett, director of Parks consumer analytics, proclaims, “Streaming media players are starting to play a bigger role in home entertainment, but interest in new entry Google Chromecast is waning.” And that might be the headline everywhere, but it doesn’t seem to be a full picture. That picture is changing every day.
From the article, "Chromecast, Cheap, Efficient And Now Challenged" by P.J. Bednarski.
