Bloomberg BusinessWeek

At least a few of Amazon’s living-room rivals have been getting some traction. Roku leads the field with a device placed in 37?percent of households that have a streaming media system, compared with 24?percent for Apple?TV, according to researcher Parks Associates. Roku is considering an initial public offering later this year. Last summer, Google introduced Chromecast, a thumb drive-size Android-powered device that plugs into a TV, connects to a wireless network, and can stream ...read more

Roku makes the most popular streaming products used by consumers to watch films and TV shows from subscription services such as Netflix Inc., according to researcher Parks Associates. With M-GO, Roku is offering sales and rentals as well.

Roku, which has sold more than 5 million boxes in the U.S., makes four models that retail for $50 to $100. It has 37 percent of the market for such devices, according to Parks Associates, compared with 24 percent for Cupertino, California-b ...read more

Despite the skepticism, sales of stationary, and wearable fitness tracking devices are expected to increase to more than $2.4 billion by 2016 from $337 million in 2011, according to Parks Associates. The market researcher says by 2016, more than 32 million U.S. consumers will actively track personal health and fitness online or via mobile.

From the article, "Yahoo Tries to Get Workers to Walk 100 Miles" by Venessa Wong.

Parks Associates announced today executives from aioTV, Comcast Cable, Rovi, and Samsung will address the monetization opportunities and development challenges for cross-platform user interfaces (UIs) during the CONNECTIONS(TM) session "Search, Discovery, Recommendation: New Revenues and Experiences."

The international research firm will host CONNECTIONS(TM): The Premier Connected Home Conference, co-located with CTIA, on May 20-23 in Las Vegas. Parks Associates research fin ...read more

Shazam says it’s careful to work closely with broadcasters and shares some of its revenue with those making the shows, though it won’t go into detail. With more than 200 million users, Jones says its built-in mobile audience is an advantage. Says Heather Way, an analyst with Parks Associates who has studied the company: “Shazam has the biggest opportunity because they already have a huge footprint.”

From the article, "Shazam's TV Strategy" by Adam Satariano.

To date, the flurry of deals has yet to translate into a bump in TiVo subscribers. In March, TiVo reported that over the past fiscal year the number of subscribers via third-party deals had dropped from 1,140,000 to 783,000, owing largely to the gradual phasing out of a deal with DirecTV (DTV). Some investors are growing impatient. "Tom Rogers has been there long enough. You would think they would start turning that ship around," says Kurt Scherf, the vice-president of market res ...read more

Over the next few months, Sony and its competitors will introduce a new generation of Web-connected televisions - and services that will stream movies, TV shows and music over the Internet and onto those sets. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to bypass cable and effectively create their own personal TV channels.

Web delivery of TV content won't be a huge revenue stream for years. Excluding income from video games, online video revenues may rise to $800 million by 201 ...read more