Roku, the most popular streaming box in the U.S., has established a secure place in the market with a wide network of 10 million boxes across the U.S. The company achieved this milestone in a period of six years after it was set up in May 2008. Back then, Roku was the first to stream Netflix to TVs, but now the market is bombarded with multiple options.
Apple is the biggest rival to Roku and has sold 20 million units of Apple TV as of April. The tech giant launched its streaming player in 2007, only as a "hobby." But when the media-streaming box garnered more than $1 billion in revenue and impressive sales, CEO Tim Cook decided to get serious. Other rivals to Roku include Amazon's Fire TV and Google's Chromecast dongle that have also gained immense popularity.
But the streaming market is highly favorable for Roku. Although, the sales fall behind Apple TV (Google and Amazon haven't disclosed sales figures of their devices), Roku boasts that use-time for its boxes is more than its rivals.
According to the company, an average of 37 million hours of video is streamed using Roku each week, compared to Apple TV's 15 million hours, Chromecast's 12 million hours and Amazon Fire TV's 6 million hours.
Roku also says that its network carries a total of 1,800 streaming channels, which is 1,000 more than its rivals, according to the infographic image shared by the company to celebrate the 10-million-milestone.
