Roku has advanced its investment in its Live TV platform with the opening of a new “Live TV Zone” which will move out to the primary, left-side navigation on its devices. The expansion is planned to enable and highlight Roku’s live streaming opportunities, which will have its rapidly expanding live TV channel guide, currently offering free access to around 200 live channels which will feature information, weather, kids’ content, sports, movies, tv shows, Spanish-language programming and more.
The company first established its live TV channel guide in 2020 as part of its broader free streaming hub, The Roku Channel, where Roku owners could also stream ad-supported TV shows and movies. At the moment, the guide had provided access to over 100 channels from a branded, purple tile that emerged within The Roku Channel. When established, people could browse through 12 hours of programming information. The experience, which is equivalent to how pay-TV users can browse what’s currently airing in their own provider’s guide, helps to make the transition to Roku more comfortable for cord-cutters that are used to turning on their TV and accessing live content. Yet, it also serves as a method to stream shows, movies, news, and more without a paid streaming subscription — an option that may appeal to those looking to save money via cord-cutting.
With the live TV service, Roku placed itself as more of a direct competitor to other free streamers, such as ViacomCBS-owned Pluto TV and Comcast’s XUMO. The former, which reached $1 billion in annual revenue in the previous year — about a year ahead of schedule — is a hint of the sizable revenue available in this market. Furthermore, the rollout of live streaming has helped media software maker Plex to expand its business also further fund its mission of becoming a one-stop-shop for customers’ media needs.
Roku, meanwhile, makes the majority of its revenue from its platform, not device sales. In other words, largely from advertisements inserted inside its free content and content distribution. That’s also the part of the business that’s presently growing.
In the most recent quarter, Roku’s platform revenue stood up 82% year-over-year, to $582.5 million, while player revenue fell by 26%, to $97.4 million. Streaming hours in the quarter also stood up to 21%, to 18 billion, with active accounts (56.4 million) streaming 3.5 hours per day.
The company reported, too, that its current streaming survey discovered that 61% of users without traditional pay-TV still watch live news at least numerous times a week. So this update will play into that need by making live news easier to access.
To get to the new Live TV Zone, you can either scroll down at the left-hand navigation to the “Live TV” option or make a search for “Live TV Zone” from the device. The feature has been rolled out.