Around 40 Pay TV operators have deployed Android STBs during the third quarter of 2017, according to Dataxis research.
Pay TV operators are using Android STBs to create more OTT friendly pay TV offers as well as pure OTT services.
The actual number of subscribers with Android STBs is limited. Less than 1 percent of Pay TV subscribers are using STBs running with an Android OS in Q3 in Europe.
Rostelecom, a major telecom operator in Russia, recently announced a tender for the supply of one million Android STBs.
Many users use Android STBs to access pirated content. Over one million of boxes running with an Android OS have been sold via the retail market over the past two years, according to the Federation Against Copyright Theft in UK. 25 percent of users admitted to access pirated content with it.
Smart TV sets vendors using Android TV are not yet the major players, with mostly Sony, Skyworth, TCL, Philips, Sharp amongst the well-known brands, while the two leaders Samsung and LG have their OS, but here also, Android TV is becoming significant.
