Compared to the mobile OS duopoly of iOS and Android, the smart TV platform market features a broadly competitive field, with about a dozen platforms set to drive experiences in 2025. Among those available for licensing, only Amazon’s, Roku’s and Google’s have been broadly used by TVs in the U.S. market. Amazon and Roku entered the TV market with their own branded sets in response to declining sales of set-top devices due to TV integration. And while Google, like Apple, has stayed out of the TV market, it recently released its first full-fledged set-top box to succeed its Chromecast HDMI dongles and compete more directly with the Apple TV device.
TV operating systems haven’t been the only source of curation leverage. TV Everywhere offerings from traditional pay TV providers and vMVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu+Live Channels also control the selection and presentation of content providers. Furthermore, in what could become a confusing web of subscriptions for consumers, services from the same companies producing operating systems are now acting as aggregating platforms even on competitive devices. For example, the Prime Video and Apple TV apps on Roku devices let consumers purchase and consume content from other subscriptions from within those app interfaces regardless of whether consumers already have access to those apps on Roku.
Particularly with the broadening influence of advertising on streaming services, platforms and portals stand to become a stronger force, compete for ad dollars, and drive new revenue streams through transactions.
In the pay-TV ecosystem, breakdowns in carriage negotiations between, for example, Disney as content studio and Comcast as cable operator, would lead to channels being pulled and dueling PR campaigns asking consumers to take sides. In the streaming ecosystem, however, roles are less well-defined. Disney’s leverage includes operating a platform in Hulu + Live TV, and Comcast owns a potential Disney distribution customer in Xumo Play and a platform in Xumo-branded set-top boxes and Xumo-powered TVs. In 2021, Roku (as a platform) clashed with Google (as a content provider) over the YouTube TV app in a spat that recalled major negotiation wars between MSOs and pay TV broadcasters. However, with so many platform purveyors also wanting broad distribution for their content plays, there’s now more incentive for mutual carriage. Recently, for example, with their shoes on the other feet, Roku expanded its Roku Channel programming into Google TV, adding support for searching its content and its 500 FAST channels.
In addition to facing competition for ad dollars from their platforms, streaming providers may also face more pressure for perks such as being included in free trial offers during device setup and paying for premium placement in recommended channel lists or search results. For streaming providers that can’t leverage their own platforms, the best alternative is to play off the robust competition among platforms, several of which are locked into high-volume devices and thus unlikely to fold. Unlike in mobile app ecosystems where there are few alternatives, streaming service providers can focus on smaller platforms that may offer better value for conversions.
This is an excerpt from Parks Associates research report Streaming Video Market: Rise of Hybrid Models. In this report, Parks Associates assesses the state of the streaming market with a focus on shifting video consumption habits and the hybrid revenue strategies that services are employing to make the economics of streaming work. The report assesses leading company strategies and includes a 5-year forecast of OTT subscriptions and ad-based streaming service viewers in the US.
