LAS VEGAS—Parks Associates has released new consumer research from its “Tech Ecosystem Consumer Insights Dashboard” at CES 2026 showing that smart TVs are the dominant gateway for streaming video in U.S. households.
The new data indicates that 61% of U.S. internet households use a smart TV as their primary streaming video device, continuing the shift away from streaming media players, gaming consoles and other connected devices.
Among smart TVs, the research found Samsung’s Tizen operating system leads the smart TV market—34% of smart TV owners have Samsung Tizen OS as their most-often-used smart TV.
But the study also found that this market remains highly fragmented, with increased competition from Roku, LG and Vizio.
When accounting for all primary connected TV (CTV) devices in US internet households, including streaming media players and game consoles, Roku takes the lead as most-used at 28%. Roku has traditionally led in the streaming media player category and has steadily increased its share in the smart TV space, growing from 8% in 2020 to 18% in 2025.
The findings from 8,000 U.S. internet households underscore how control of the TV experience is consolidating at the OS layer, the researchers said.
“Smart TVs are the default way consumers access video, and so the OS has become the central point of competition,” said Jennifer Kent, senior vice president and principal analyst, Parks. “Samsung’s leadership reflects the strategic value of platform scale, particularly as advertising, subscriptions, and service integration move directly into the TV interface.”
