Streaming Devices Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Streaming Devices Market is projected to expand from USD 16.11 Billion in 2025 to USD 36.51 Billion by 2031, achieving a CAGR of 14.61%. This market encompasses hardware solutions such as media players, dongles, and boxes designed to deliver digital content to display screens via internet connections. The primary factors driving this sector include the worldwide expansion of high-speed broadband infrastructure and a significant structural shift in consumer preferences toward Over-The-Top services. As viewers migrate from traditional linear broadcasting to on-demand consumption, there is a continuous demand for hardware that connects the internet to television displays, bridging the gap between digital sources and viewing screens.

Despite these favorable drivers, the industry faces a substantial challenge due to the rising prevalence of Smart TVs equipped with integrated operating systems. As television manufacturers increasingly embed native streaming capabilities directly into their display products, the functional need for external peripheral devices declines for many consumers. This technological convergence restricts the potential addressable market for standalone streaming hardware, as users increasingly prefer all-in-one solutions that do not require additional equipment for content access. Nevertheless, the economic momentum of the ecosystem remains robust; according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, digital video ad spend was projected to grow by 14 percent to reach 72 billion dollars in 2025.

Market Drivers

The rapid adoption of Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services serves as a primary catalyst for the market, with consumers increasingly prioritizing on-demand libraries over scheduled programming. This behavioral shift drives the need for versatile streaming devices capable of aggregating diverse content platforms into a single interface. The rise in subscription-based models has directly correlated with hardware sales, as users seek dedicated dongles and boxes to upgrade non-smart screens or enhance existing smart TV capabilities. Reflecting this massive scale, Netflix reported in its 'Third Quarter 2024 Earnings' report in October 2024 that the platform's global subscriber base had expanded to reach approximately 282.72 million paid memberships.

Simultaneously, the accelerating global trend of cord-cutting and cord-shaving is reshaping the industry by redirecting demand away from traditional cable infrastructure. High subscription costs for linear pay-TV are propelling households toward more flexible, lower-cost internet-based alternatives, necessitating the acquisition of streaming players to access live TV features. In its '3rd Quarter 2024 Results' released in October 2024, Comcast Corporation reported a net loss of 365,000 domestic video customers, illustrating the continued erosion of the traditional pay-TV user base. This migration fuels a sustained replacement cycle that benefits market leaders like Roku, which consolidates these fragmented audiences; according to Roku, Inc., the company reached 85.5 million streaming households in 2024, highlighting the growing reliance on specialized streaming hardware.

Market Challenges

The widespread proliferation of Smart TVs with embedded operating systems presents a formidable barrier to the expansion of the Global Streaming Devices Market. As television manufacturers increasingly standardize the integration of native streaming applications directly into display hardware, the functional requirement for external peripheral devices like dongles and media boxes is significantly reduced. This technological convergence limits the total addressable market for standalone players, as consumers gravitate toward all-in-one display solutions that eliminate the need for additional equipment to access digital content. Consequently, streaming hardware vendors face a substitution threat where their core value proposition - connecting unconnected screens - is rendered obsolete by the default capabilities of modern television sets.

This challenging market dynamic is reinforced by the consistent replacement cycle of legacy displays with internet-ready units. The continued influx of these integrated devices ensures that a large portion of new households bypasses the need for external streaming solutions entirely. According to the Consumer Technology Association, television shipments in the United States were projected to reach 40.9 million units in 2024. This significant volume of hardware, largely equipped with pre-installed streaming interfaces, directly restricts the growth potential of the standalone device sector by saturating the market with primary screens that require no further investment to function as content gateways.

Market Trends

The direct integration of Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) channels is fundamentally altering the value proposition of streaming hardware by transforming devices into content-rich platforms. Manufacturers are actively pivoting from being neutral hardware providers to acting as content aggregators, embedding native linear channel lineups directly into the operating system to capitalize on consumer demand for cost-free entertainment. This strategy allows hardware vendors to monetize user engagement through advertising revenue while providing a seamless, cable-like experience without subscription fees. Demonstrating the rapid consumer uptake of this embedded content model, Samsung Electronics announced in an October 2024 press release titled 'Samsung TV Plus Hits 88 Million Monthly Active Users' that its native ad-supported service reached 88 million monthly active users worldwide, fueled by a 50 percent year-over-year increase in global viewing activity.

Concurrently, the integration of Generative AI for advanced content discovery is addressing the critical issues of application fragmentation and viewer decision fatigue. Market leaders are deploying Large Language Models (LLMs) to enable conversational voice search and personalized curation, shifting the user interface from a static grid of icons to an intelligent, context-aware assistant. This technological leap allows users to find content across disparate services using natural language prompts, effectively transforming the device into an active curator that simplifies the search process. Underscoring the massive potential scale for this innovation, Google reported in a corporate platform update in September 2024 that the Android TV and Google TV ecosystem expanded to 270 million monthly active devices, creating a vast foundation for the wide-scale deployment of these next-generation AI capabilities.

Key Players Profiled in the Streaming Devices Market

• Google LLC
• Microsoft Corporation
• Sony Corporation
• Roku, Inc.
• Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
• AsusTek Computer Inc.
• LG Electronics Inc.
• Apple, Inc.
• Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Amazon.com, Inc.

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Streaming Devices Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Streaming Devices Market, by Type:

• Game Consoles
• Media Streamers

Streaming Devices Market, by Application:

• E-Learning
• Web-Browsing
• Gaming
• Real-Time Entertainment
• Social Networking

Streaming Devices Market, by End User:

• Commercial
• Residential
• Institution

Streaming Devices Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Streaming Devices Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

This product will be delivered within 1-3 business days.