Roku Winner in Rising Smart TV Adoption Amid Tariffs, IHS Reports
Higher Q1 consumer smart TV adoption was the “unintended consequence of the U.S.-China trade dispute,” with the Roku TV operating system the winner, reported IHS Markit Thursday. Fears of higher tariffs on Chinese TV imports "spurred TCL and other TV…
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brands reliant on Chinese manufacturing to increase shipments to North America in early 2019,” said IHS. “These companies hoped to build safety stocks and generate as much sales volume as possible before pricing was impacted by the tariffs. This strategy boosted sales of Chinese-made smart TVs.” They “make extensive use of the Roku OS, in contrast to more established brand names, which often employ their own operating systems,” said IHS. “The boom in Chinese TV sales put Roku at the top of the North American market for the first time since" Q3 2017. IHS estimates the Roku OS had 37 percent share of the U.S. smart TV market Q1, up from 23 percent in Q4.