Epoll Study Finds that Streaming Hardware is Critical to Success

A recent study by Epoll found that streaming hardware is vitally important to consumers as part of their enjoyment of content. The study concludes that, “with cord-cutting becoming a reality for more consumers today, devices that connect to these services will need to appeal to the masses.”

An example of this phenomena is Roku which, according to eMarketer, has more users than any other streaming device (excluding smart TVs) at 86.2M in the U.S. Compare this to the E-Score Brand survey, where Roku has the highest Appeal score at 49%, with close to a third of consumers (31%) agreeing that Roku is better than competitors.
Other takeaways include:

• Streaming devices are mainly used to watch shows and movies but some have additional features such as games and music. For those reasons, Roku is considered most Entertaining (41%) followed by Amazon Fire TV (39%)
• Other features such as voice activation, 4K resolution, game controller support, (Xbox/Playstation) and brand ecosystem are things users also find valuable. Apple TV leads for Innovative (27%) and Amazon Fire TV Stick (23%) and Apple TV (22%) are considered more Cutting Edge than Google Chromecast (16%) and Roku (15%).
• As streaming devices are fighting to be the hardware of choice for cord-cutters, Apple TV’s early rollout gives it a slight advantage as being High Quality, Innovative and Cutting Edge while the others in the space have higher Appeal than Apple TV. Consumer comments suggest Apple’s premium pricing ($150-$200) may be difficult to justify for most consumers compared to Roku ($30-$100) and Chromecast ($35-$70).

This article first appeared in Cynopsis.