Worldwide shipments of all Android TV devices, including STBs and smart televisions, are projected to increase from 7.6 million in 2016 to 40.1 million in 2021.
As the number of Android TV devices increase, Google’s influence in the pay TV market will rise, according to Greg Potter at S&P Global Market Intelligence.Consumer electronics, or CE, vendors choosing to use Android for their products gain the advantage of an ecosystem that is supported by a huge number of developers without the development costs, Potter added. Additionally, the operating system is upgraded at a regular cadence, and security updates come as needed.
Smart televisions and set-top boxes (STBs) are expected to be the two dominant product categories for Android TV through the end of 2021, S&P predicts. Worldwide shipments of all Android TV devices, including STBs and smart televisions, are projected to increase from 7.6 million in 2016 to 40.1 million in 2021.
Android TV smart televisions also are expected to increase as the OS becomes popular in the consumer market. In 2016 S&P estimated that 4.2% of smart televisions shipped with Android TV, with that number forecasted to grow to 13.3% in 2021. Unit shipments are expected to increase from 5.5 million to 27 million during that same timeframe. The installed base should reach 80.3 million by 2021, rapidly increasing from 14.6 million in 2017 because of the long replacement cycles of televisions.
Using Android TV gives operators the flexibility to offer popular over-the-top (OTT) apps like Netflix and Hulu, as well as the other apps that are found in the Google Play store. Other popular types found on Android TV include gaming, social media and weather apps. Smartphones and tablets with Android can stream video and photos to as well as control an Android TV device.
The platform also recently added new features as part of the 6.0 update released earlier this year. As part of the upgrade, support for Googles home automation platform, Google Assistant, was added, allowing the platform to include the television as part of its toolset. Using Google Assistant, one can change what is playing on the television, power it on and off, view security cameras, and potentially more as new devices and abilities are added to the Google Assistant ecosystem.
