Amazon announced that it’s beta testing ads that will let viewers make direct purchases on IMDb TV, either through their Alexa or their Fire TV remote. Shoppable video ads aren’t new, but what’s exciting about Amazon’s announcement is that the ads are coming to the biggest screen in the house via Amazon Fire TVs.

It took a few months for NBCUniversal’s Peacock to become available on Roku, and it still isn’t on Amazon Fire TV. HBO Max announced that it would become available on Amazon Fire TV in November and on Roku in December. Ordinary viewers who don’t follow the digital video business regularly might get confused whenever they hear about a streaming service but cannot access it on their CTV device.

This year, its US audience will also boast 72.7 million monthly Fire TV users, who are using Amazon’s CTV operating system to watch on devices including Fire TV Sticks and other manufacturers’ smart TVs, and 41.5 million monthly viewers of Twitch.

When broken out by operating system, Roku and Amazon Fire TV are the most popular CTV products. Roku will have 100.2 million users, and Fire TV will have 72.7 million. It’s worth calling out that people can use multiple devices, and it isn’t unusual for a single household to have multiple TVs in their home or to use both a Roku and Fire TV. There is also overlap in our smart TV figures.

Growth was driven by search revenues from Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, while video ad revenues on properties including Amazon Fire TV, Twitch, and IMDb TV grew significantly as well.

When broken out by operating system (OS), Roku and Amazon Fire TV are the most popular CTV products. Roku will have 100.2 million users, and Fire TV will have 72.7 million. It’s worth calling out that people can own multiple devices, and it isn’t unusual for a single household to have a Roku and Fire TV.

The Fire TV Stick was discounted by 63% (after a 50% price cut the prior year), and the Echo Dot was slashed by 56% (following a 40% price cut). The Echo Dot gets much of the Prime Day fanfare, but the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote is arguably more important.

Amazon has a lot of catching up to do with Roku, but it’s also been rapidly building out its ad offerings on Fire TV and its ad-supported streamer IMDb TV. On the streamer side, YouTube was the largest CTV ad seller in the US last year, and we expect more viewing on the platform to shift to CTV screens in the future.

Also, the Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote was the top-selling item. Amazon uses Prime Day to manipulate the retail calendar. By deciding the date of Prime Day, Amazon can dictate the start of shopping seasons. Last year’s October Prime Day served as an early start to holiday shopping, while this year did the same for back-to-school shopping.

Thanks to significant price reductions, Amazon’s electronics—particularly Echo devices, Fire TV, and other Alexa-enabled devices—tend to be the top-selling products each year. The aim of getting Amazon smart speakers into the home is central to Amazon’s long-term bet on voice assistants. Amazon seems to believe that voice will be central to the future of connectivity, including shopping.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss whether Tiktok will be banned or sold, and where user growth will come from. They then talk about Facebook's ad delivery algorithms, Twitter's healthy public discourse initiatives and Facebook Messenger's new social sharing feature.

eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom compares our forecasts of Amazon Fire TV and Roku users in the US.

eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom explains why our projections for Apple TV users are well below rivals Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

This report reviews our final 2020 numbers and new 2021 forecast for US time spent with media, highlighting pre- and post-pandemic estimates and expectations. Special attention is paid to TV, connected TV, OTT, digital audio, and social media.