Kodi Era: Facts and Stats

Kodi is widely known for being an open source media software that allows users stream all kinds of media stored either locally or on the internet. It is highly customizable and optimized for streaming across multiple operating systems and platforms including TVs. With add-ons that literally give access to all kinds of content including Live TV, it's no wonder millions of users worldwide are cutting the cord and using Kodi across their devices.

Kodi first sprung on the scene over a decade ago and has been a major entertainment fixture since then. However, there have been numerous misconceptions regarding Kodi over the years making it somewhat confusing for newbies to truly understand it. Even some of the most popular Kodi builds in the past have either been blacklisted or gone offline for various reasons.

This article aims to address some of the key facts about Kodi, the stats behind its huge success over the years and also how it has evolved since it first emerged. Happy reading!

In 2002, Xbox Media Player or XBMP was launched and served as a media player for the Xbox gaming console. Kodi's journey, however, started in 2004 when the Xbox Media Center (XBMC) was launched as a replacement for XBMP. XBMC was created by completely rewriting the source code for XBMP. The media player grew very popular, so much that it was subsequently created for other operating systems including Windows and Linux, and subsequently Android and iOS.

Due to the XBMC's inability to claim ownership to the name (Xbox Media Centre) and also to show a clear distinction between the media player and Xbox. It's worth pointing out that The XBMC Foundation, however, claims they never received any warnings to stop using the name from Microsoft Xbox.

You can find details of some of Kodi's milestones and achievements over the past two decades highlighted below.

• 2002 - XBMP (Xbox Media Player) was created

• 2004 - XBMC (Xbox Media Center) was launched and was a complete rewrite of the XBMP source code.

• 2014 - Received the LifeHacker Award for Best Media Player.

• 2014 - Made the decision to change the name from XBMC to Kodi and subsequently launched Kodi 14.

• Newer versions were released annually.

• 2017 - Redesigned app and website with an overhaul of features and functionalities.

• 2019 - Launched Kodi 19 in January.

The following are some key facts about Kodi that should ideally help dispel some common misconceptions you may have about the media centre.

• Kodi is 100% Legal worldwide.

• Kodi does not provide any content via its software.

• The software is completely open source.

• It offers access to official and unofficial add-ons.

• Kodi is operated by the XBMC Foundation which is a non-profit organization registered in the US.

• Kodi mostly attracts negative criticism for allowing third-party add-ons that sometimes promote piracy.

As at the end of 2011, Kodi had just over 700,000 users worldwide. However, by the end of 2017, Kodi add-ons were reported used and updated by about 38 million active users worldwide. This trend in the growth of the media center is also projected to continue even as future updates are rolled out.

The following are some additional usage statistics for your digestion.

• Kodi's most popular platform is Windows, followed closely by Android and Linux.

• Kodi's Android app ranks in the top 150 free apps on Play Store.

• It processes around 170 million requests daily.

• Over 100k Android users downloaded Kodi in its first ten days of release.

One of Kodi's biggest challenges has been that its platform can be used by add-on developers to distribute or stream pirated content. While it continues to take preemptive measures regarding this challenge, the fact that it continues to give developers the freedom to create third-party add-ons means that it may likely linger.