Amazon already has a foothold in the smart TV market through its Fire TV platform but the company could soon take it a little further.
According to Business Insider, the company is working on launching Amazon-branded smart TVs in the U.S. as soon as October. The report suggests that the TVs, which will including Alexa voice support, have been in the works for years. Amazon is reportedly working with third-party manufacturers including TCL, a China-based TV maker that also produces Roku smart TV models.
Amazon currently partners with smart TV makers including Toshiba and Insignia, Best Buy’s house brand, to sell Fire TV OS models. As Reuters points out, the company also sells an AmazonBasics TV in India.
Amazon competes with Roku along with manufacturers Samsung and LG for share in the smart TV market. Other companies including Comcast and TiVo are also plotting their entries into the smart TV space.
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It’s unclear if the rumored smart TVs will run Amazon’s Fire TV operating system but if they do, it would likely provide a boost to the platform’s user base. Amazon Fire TV ended 2020 with 50 million monthly active users, up from 40 million at the beginning of the year. That growth has no doubt helped expand the Amazon’s advertising audience. The company said it now reaches more than 55 million monthly active viewers of ad-supported OTT content, up from about 20 million at the same time last year and the 40 million it reported in July during FierceVideo’s OTT Blitz Week.
In March, research firm Strategy Analytics said global fourth-quarter connected TV device sales set a new record with 109.1 million units and that Amazon became market leader for the first time with sales of 13.2 million devices and a market share of 12.1%. Amazon knocked Samsung – which sold 11.9 million units for a 10.9% market share – into second place.
Overall, connected TV device sales in 2020 – smart TVs, streamers and gaming consoles – reached 305.3 million units, an annual increase of 7.6%.