Chromecast Usage Is Actually Rising, Claims Google
Don't believe everything reported in the online video news sites, says Google.
At Google's recent I/O developer's conference, the company claimed that usage of its inexpensive HDMI dongle is up -- way up. The number of minutes of usage per week for an active device has risen by 40 percent since the third quarter of last year, one presenter said. An accompanying slide, reported by GigaOm, shows a steadily increasing growth rate punctuated by heavy usage during the holidays.
As refutations go, this isn't a strong one. For one thing, Google has chosen to report only on "active devices," which cuts out any users who tried Chromecast for a little while and then got tired of it.
The presentation attempted to counter a report by market research company Parks Associates, reported on this site a few weeks back, that Chromecast use is on the decline. Parks surveyed 10,000 broadband-enabled homes and found that, while Chromecast ownership is steady at 6 percent, the number of owners who use the device at least once per month has fallen from 78 percent to 73 percent.
That information came from Parks Associates' report 360 View: CE Adoption and Trends, which studied the adoption and use of over 20 streaming devices.
Perhaps Google will have better luck with its recently announced Android TV operating system.
Update: Parks Associates published a blog post about the discrepency.
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