Amazon Unseats Google In Fast-Growing EU Smart Home Market

Europe’s smart home market growth increased in the last year, growing by 18.1 percent over the same quarter from 2018.

“Amazon had a stellar quarter and was responsible for more than half of the smart speakers shipped to Europe in the third quarter of 2019,” said Antonio Arantes, senior research analyst for smart home devices in Western Europe. “In the digital media adapter space, the Fire TV continues to prove the strength of the product, leading in the United Kingdom and German markets.”

Fueled by anticipated double digit growth over the next few years, and showcased at CES, the continent’s smart home market is anticipated to be at 185.9 million units by 2023.

“In the third quarter of 2019, the CEE smart home market grew 51% year over year, with smart speakers the fastest growing category and Google and Amazon the leading vendors,” said Jan Prenosil, senior research analyst for smart home devices in Central and Eastern Europe. “The lighting category recorded a solid growth thanks to affordable devices with direct connectivity options, not having the necessity of connecting to a hub. It is the simple way for consumers try the basic smart device.”

Amazon’s Fire TV product continues to light and lead the way in top smart home entertainment choices, though new players are arriving and more are expected to join a crowded field.

“Even though video entertainment is already a mature market, we are still seeing some novelties in this space. In the last months of 2019, Fire OS and Roku entered the TV market in the United Kingdom as two new operating systems for smart TVs, and we expect them to grow to new countries and new partners,” Arantes said.

Prenosil noted that “increased demand for Smart TVs is expected in the coming quarters as the DVB-T standard signal is turned off between the end of 2019 and 2020 in some CEE countries, and many costumers leave the purchase of the new equipment to the last minute.”