Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced that its Fire TV platform has surpassed 40 million monthly active users. This is an increase from the 34 million users the company reported in May last year and tops Roku Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ROKU) 32.3 million active users reported in November.
Amazon Fire TV active accounts exceed Roku’s by 7.7 million
Roku gave their numbers when they released Q3 2019 results and indicated their active accounts are those of users who have used the account at least once in the last 30 days. However, Roku indicates that several members of the family can use one account. However, for Amazon’s Fire TV, it is not easy to switch between user profiles to offer a personalized watch list.
In May, when Amazon reported that it had 34 million active accounts, it was leading Roku by around 5 million accounts. However, it seems the lead has widened to 7.7 million. In terms of active user accounts, the platforms are closed, and the gap could narrow once Roku releases Q4 results.
Equally, Roku has indicated that its active user accounts are not comparable to those of Amazon, considering their devices are only available in 20 countries relative to Fire TV that is available in 100 countries. Amazon has indicated that by the end of this year, it will have over 150 Amazon Fire TV models in at least ten countries.
Growing Competition between Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV
Roku and Amazon Fire TV are fierce competitors. Roku has The Roku Channel, free movies, and TV hub, which have spurred Amazon to push its IMDb subsidiary to introduce a free streaming service. On the other hand, to remain competitive, Roku is developing a voice control platform to counter Fire TV’s advantage that has virtual assistant support Alexa.
Roku continues to benefit from the reputation of being a neutral platform that offers access to most streaming services. At the same time, Amazon is also enhancing its offering by providing support to rival streaming services such as YouTube TV, YouTube, as well as Apple TV’s App.
