Fire TV’s growth plummeted in August, while Roku lagged in terms of new publisher growth. Here’s the full rundown on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Google TV for the month of August.
Welcome to the August 2023 edition of our monthly CTV roundup! Each month, we cover trends and insights from the top CTV app stores. Come here for monthly updates on inventory growth, leading categories, top apps, and more!
Here’s where things stand this month (click the links to jump to the corresponding section):
- Roku leads in total inventory, but lags Apple TV, Fire TV, and Google TV in publisher growth
- Fire TV’s growth plummeted in August
- The top categories by CTV store
- Netflix remains the most popular app on the Roku Channel Store
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Roku leads in total inventory, but lags Apple TV, Fire TV, and Google TV in publisher growth
Unsurprisingly, the Roku Channel Store remains the largest, most popular CTV app store on the market. Its inventory grew from 37,972 CTV apps in July to 38,448 CTV apps in August. In addition, as of August, 10,251 publishers have released Roku apps, up from 10,163 in July.
Here’s how the rest of the top CTV stores shake out:
- Apple TV tvOS App Store has 22,985 apps from 15,277 publishers. (Last month: 22,625 apps, 14,981 publishers)
- Amazon Fire TV has 19,593 apps from 8,019 publishers. (Last month: 19,288 apps, 7,916 publishers)
- Google TV has 8,253 apps from 5,471 publishers. (Last month: 8,143 apps, 5,364 publishers)
Interestingly, while Roku has the fastest growing app inventory, it’s fallen behind in terms of new publishers. Indeed, 88 publishers added apps to the Channel Store in August, compared to 296 for Apple TV, 107 for Google TV, and 103 for Fire TV.
Fire TV’s growth plummeted in August
Last month we noted that despite Roku’s market-leading app inventory growth, Fire TV was gaining steam. Well, that’s… no longer the case.
Overall, there were fewer apps added in August than there were in July, which isn’t too surprising considering the end of summer. However, while most declines were modest (Roku fell by 17, Apple TV fell by 12, and Google TV fell by 10), Fire TV’s inventory growth fell off a cliff, registering 160 fewer new apps in August than in July.
The top categories by CTV store
‘Faith-Based’ apps lead the way for Roku, while Apple TV is driven by ‘Education’ apps, Fire TV is driven by ‘Lifestyle’ apps, and Google TV is driven by ‘Entertainment’ apps.
Below, you’ll find the top three categories for each of the top CTV app stores…
The Top Roku Categories
As noted above, the largest category on Roku is ‘Faith-Based’ (9,926 apps), with ‘Movies & TV’ (5,727 apps) and ‘Apps’ (2,505) rounding out the top three.
The Top Apple TV Categories
On Apple TV, ‘Education’ leads the way, with 5,919 apps. Then come ‘Entertainment’ (4,201) and ‘Lifestyle’ (3,119).
The Top Fire TV Categories
‘Lifestyle’, meanwhile, takes the top spot on Fire TV, with 3,117 apps. It’s followed by ‘Movies & TV’ (2,966) and ‘Games’ (1,482).
The Top Google TV Categories
Finally, on Google TV, ‘Entertainment’ is far and away the top category, with 3,294 apps. The Top three is rounded out by ‘Music & Audio’ (689) and ‘Games’ (536).
Netflix remains the most popular app on the Roku Channel Store
To wrap up, we identified the top CTV apps on the Roku Channel Store based on the number of reviews they’ve received. Currently, Netflix leads the way with 3,711,919 total reviews, up from 3,711,919 in July. The rest of the top five includes household names, like YouTube (2,079,302 reviews), Hulu (1,025,731), Prime Video (911,996), and the Roku Channel (486,472).
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, overall growth in the CTV market was down in August compared to July. This isn’t surprising as August is the last month of summer and, in general, isn’t a great month for productivity. Nevertheless, there are some interesting trends that are worth pointing out.
First, while Roku remains the leader in terms of total app inventory and app inventory growth, there are more new publishers releasing apps on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Google TV.
Second, despite phenomenal growth in July, Fire TV fell back to earth in August. Nevertheless, it’s still the fastest growing CTV platform outside of Roku.
In any event, as the CTV industry continues to evolve, it will be interesting to monitor how these trends shift and shape the future of television. So, be sure to tune in next month for the latest CTV growth trends!
