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.
The rising occurrence of high-profile security hacks and privacy breaches, as well as being personally victimized, are contributing to ever-increasing consumer anxiety about smart home devices and pla...
Parks Associates research reveals manufacturer websites are No. 1 source for researching smart home equipment. Integrator websites are No. 2. Those are the results from new smart home research by P...
Smart locks contribute enhanced convenience as well as increased security, two of the principal driving factors in any smart device sales. In fact, a recent Parks Associates study found that 45% of sm...
A study from Parks Associates found that “one-third of smart device owners in U.S. broadband households have increased usage of their devices during the COVID-19 pandemic, including 46% of smart door...
