Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Wall Street isn’t sure Roku can lead cord cutters to the promised land

One of the secrets of Roku's success has been its expansion beyond its roots as a set top box maker (a term the company tries to avoid). To do this, Roku CEO Anthony Wood built a loyal customer following by moving the company away from only selling its own boxes, instead now licensing its software to TV makers, so they can ship screens with the company's streaming TV platform built-in. This is a much higher margin business than selling streaming hardware, and almost one-third of so-called smart TVs sold last year included Roku's software.

Roku has also developed and licensed streaming programming of its own, backed by advertising. The Roku Channel, available on all its platforms, was 2019's most popular ad-backed streaming channel, ahead of rivals Pluto TV and Crackle, according to market research firm Parks Associates. That's another business that yields higher margins than producing set top boxes.

From the article "Wall Street isn’t sure Roku can lead cord cutters to the promised land" by Aaron Pressman.

Previously In The News

More than 278 million viewers will watch subscription ad-supported streaming services by 2029 – Parks Associates

Parks Associates' new white paper, Interactive & Shoppable TV: Next Wave of CTV Revenues, released in partnership with Adeia, focuses on the service provider opportunity to advance the consumer experi...

Streaming paradox: More options, less clarity in business models

Recent data from Parks Associates noted the extent of this shift: 59% of subscriptions across the eight leading streaming video-on-demand services in the third quarter of 2024 were basic-tier subscrip...

New service models emerge for smart home eco-systems

Parks Associates’ study Smart Home Services: Safety, Prevention, Comfort reveals that 66% of US single-family homeowners are likely to adopt technology-enabled home services, such as smart HVAC mo...

Exploring the Rise of Smart Appliances in American Homes

According to recent findings from Parks Associates, the trend of smart appliance adoption is witnessing remarkable growth, with 23% of U.S. internet households currently owning at least one smart...