Roku forecast to beat Apple TV, Google, Amazon in the battle for your TV attention, study claims

It's been about 10 years since the debut of the Roku streaming media player, and in that short time, the company has gone from a total unknown to now beating all the tech giants competing to be your TV streaming device of choice, a new report claims.

The forecast comes from market research company eMarketer and was published on Wednesday, putting Roku ahead of Google (Chromecast), Amazon (Fire TV), and even Apple (Apple TV).

According to the study, which is focused on U.S. residents using an internet connected TV at least once a month, Roku will lead the pack this year with 38.9 million users, followed by Chromecast with 36.9 million users, Fire TV with 35.8 million users, and Apple TV with 21.3 million users.

Based on the estimated user numbers from eMarketer, it looks like a dead heat between Roku, Google, and Amazon, but there's a key point to consider that differentiates Roku from all other players: it's service agnostic.

Unlike every other competitor in the top four rankings, Roku doesn't offer its own content store, instead serving as a platform that's open to all players (except Apple's iTunes, which is only available on Apple TV).

By comparison, users of other devices face competition-driven challenges: For example, Amazon Video isn't directly available on Apple TV (but coming soon), and Google Play videos aren't directly available on Amazon's Fire TV (however, both Amazon Video and Google Play are directly available on Roku).

This is a huge differentiator for Roku because while devices like the Apple TV and Fire TV offer software environments that work to push you toward their content stores, Roku users get to craft their own experience.

With Roku, instead of pushing one store above the others, users are able to add content store apps from a wide range of competing services, letting you easily switch between them based on whatever shows and movies they may or may not offer.

This is particularly important in the fast growing a la carte TV market, where nearly every major TV network has developed an app geared toward exactly the kind of open platform Roku delivers. In short, because Roku isn't competing to sell you on its own store, it has effectively become the most flexible device in our move to replace cable and satellite TV with internet-centric OTT devices.

Ironically, Roku's decades-in-the-making win has its roots in Netflix. Back in 2007, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided to take an internal initiative called Project Griffin and spin it off into its own company called Roku. Even back then, Hastings could see the future of TV that we're currently experiencing, figuring that Netflix might be hobbled by competition if it put out its own streaming media device versus the inevitable offerings from the likes of Apple TV and others.

"As the only major market participant not affiliated with a content or TV device platform, Roku has used its neutrality to strike deals with a wide range of partners, including smart TV makers, over-the-top (OTT) service providers and social media companies," said eMarketer's principal video analyst, Paul Verna, in a statement on the company's website.

"That expansive strategy, combined with the company’s broad selection of connectivity devices at various price points, has put Roku at the head of the pack."

However, as noted previously, that lead is slim. But when you consider that the other brands -- Apple, Google, and Amazon -- are constantly pushed to us in ads and in media stories, unlike the comparatively lower key brand saturation of Roku, it makes Roku's top position even more impressive.