We always suspected Amazon sold a lot of its Fire TV sticks: they’re excellent TV streamers at a reasonable price, and they’re frequently on sale. All the same, seeing the number of Fire TV devices out there in the world is pretty eye opening.
On a panel at the Pay TV Show titled ‘The Battle for your Living Room: Sticks, Boxes and Smart TV Platforms”, Amazon’s Jen Prenner revealed the full picture. Fire TV has over 34 million active users worldwide, and is the number one streaming platform in the UK, the US, Germany, India and Japan. Those are some solid markets to be number one in.
Almost as impressive as the raw numbers is the momentum Amazon seems to have. At CES in January, Amazon said it had “well over” 30 million Fire TV users, putting it ahead of the 27 million rivals Roku had at the time. If it were at 34 million four months ago, you’d have thought it would have said so, putting more of a gap between the two.
Related: Best streaming sites
Of course, compared to its wider business interests, Amazon’s TV strand is relatively minor, so does it matter too much? Well, yes if you believe what CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has said in the past. Fire TV drives Amazon Prime subscriptions, and Prime subscriptions – with their free fast delivery – drive impulse purchases, which in turn drive Amazon’s healthy bottom line.
“When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes,” Bezos said back in 2016. “And it does that in a very direct way. Because if you look at Prime members, they buy more on Amazon than non-Prime members, and one of the reasons they do that is once they pay their annual fee, they’re looking around to see, ‘How can I get more value out of the program?’ And so they look across more categories — they shop more.”
For that reason alone, having 34 million people relying on Fire TV for their streaming needs is a very healthy thing for Amazon. No wonder the company has already confirmed that both Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus will be available on Fire TV when they launch: it has to remain number one.
Is Fire TV your main streaming tech, or do you use something else? Let us know on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
