Roku crosses 80 million active accounts, but growth continues to slow

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Roku recently announced it now has more than 80 million active user accounts, which it says is a major marker of its growth and scale amid the continued shift in how people watch television. A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals that growth has been slowing each year since 2020.

Further driving its point home, the company said its active account base is now larger than the collective subscriber base of the six largest traditional pay TV providers.

Founder and CEO Anthony Wood said that in a world where one day all TV will be streamed, they are immensely proud to be the programmer of the home screen for more than 80 million active accounts around the world.

Reaching 80 million active accounts may not seem like a huge deal, especially considering they technically aren't paying users (excluding the one-time hardware cost, there's no subscription involved) but getting to this point wasn't easy.

Save for one year (from Q4 2019 to Q4 2020), active account growth has consistently slowed each and every year since 2018. The last numbers came in January 2023 when Roku said it had 70 million active accounts, meaning it took more than 12 months to add 10 million additional accounts.

Roku also said it hit a new record high in terms of viewer engagement. In 2023, more than 100 billion hours of content were streamed using Roku devices compared to 87.4 billion streaming hours in 2022. That works out to an average of 4.1 hours per day, per account, in the most recent quarter.

Roku spent much of 2023 expanding its reach beyond traditional streaming boxes. In March, the company launched its own line of TVs with integrated streaming capabilities exclusively at Best Buy. Just last month, Roku announced a new line of Pro Series sets in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch sizes with higher-end features like Mini-LED, local dimming, and enhanced audio tech.

New Pro Series sets are due out this spring with prices starting under $1,500.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101916-roku-crosses-80-million-active-accounts-but-growth.html

 

[hahahanoobs]

I have a really cheap Roku TV, but it was slow so I got a Chromecast with Google TV. Way better. It even has Android 12.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Shame on Roku forcing people to "upgrade" their existing players when there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. I have a perfectly capable Roku 4 unit that Roku have tried multiple times on blocking apps like HULU stating that it's no longer supported but once I reset the box it somehow keeps working without an issue....On my part never again would get a Roku system because of their shady business practices.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Shame on Roku forcing people to "upgrade" their existing players when there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. I have a perfectly capable Roku 4 unit that Roku have tried multiple times on blocking apps like HULU stating that it's no longer supported but once I reset the box it somehow keeps working without an issue....On my part never again would get a Roku system because of their shady business practices.

This is why my media center has a PC running Linux. No app blockers for me! Has adblock installed too....

 

[maxxcool7421]

I have a really cheap Roku TV, but it was slow so I got a Chromecast with Google TV. Way better. It even has Android 12.

Buys a 400 dollar HD TV with roku built in and is disappointed :| well yeah... buy cheap get cheap .. anything with roku ''built in'' is running roku-app versus actual hardware ..

 

[RudyBob]

Roku was an inexpensive way for me to stream. I like it

 

[Jme Kerul]

I got one Roku unit several years ago when Google TV were expensive.
Once the GTV price went below the threshold, Roku just displays the screensaver for the last 3 years.
I guess it's still counted as active account.
Oh, and on GTV I can install many more apps than on that freaking expensive Roku.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Buys a 400 dollar HD TV with roku built in and is disappointed :| well yeah... buy cheap get cheap .. anything with roku ''built in'' is running roku-app versus actual hardware ..

What do you mean actual hardware? An external device? They all use ARM chips.

https://developer.roku.com/en-ca/docs/specs/hardware.md

 

[hahahanoobs]

I got one Roku unit several years ago when Google TV were expensive.
Once the GTV price went below the threshold, Roku just displays the screensaver for the last 3 years.
I guess it's still counted as active account.
Oh, and on GTV I can install many more apps than on that freaking expensive Roku.

So even the expensive version is bad. Imagine that.

 

[DubiousFishHook]

Would be better if home routers & tv's were more versatile & compatible. a good open source media server would be swell.

 

[Dimitrios]

I bought my parents one on Black Friday last year. I think it was a 40-48 LED Roku for $100. I learned quickly it runs crappy if you load too many apps. It just crashes to the main screen once in a while, from what I hear from them. Also, they ended up getting a better remote and 3-4 times IN A ROW someone at WALMART swapped out the pro remote for the basic, which I heard is a common problem. Walmart was nice about the return policy. The remotes almost look the same.

 

[Endymio]

Shame on Roku forcing people to "upgrade" their existing players ... I have a perfectly capable Roku 4 unit that Roku have tried multiple times on blocking apps like HULU stating that it's no longer supported but once I reset the box it somehow keeps working ...

No clue what you're talking about. Years ago, Hulu (not Roku) made a platform change that prevented some earliest-model Rokus from working with them -- but even my ancient Roku 2 stick works fine with Hulu ... and any other streaming service I've ever tried it with.

 

[The Talking Tech]

No clue what you're talking about. Years ago, Hulu (not Roku) made a platform change that prevented some earliest-model Rokus from working with them -- but even my ancient Roku 2 stick works fine with Hulu ... and any other streaming service I've ever tried it with.

So either you haven't used your "ancient" Roku 2 with Hulu in quite some time or to my point Roku is targeting random perfectly working units to force those users in upgrading unnecessarily which it would be even more scammy than I thought.

 

[Endymio]

So either you haven't used your "ancient" Roku 2 with Hulu in quite some time or to my point Roku is targeting random perfectly working units to force those users in upgrading unnecessarily which it would be even more scammy than I thought.

Or, (gasp!) we could apply logic and conclude the problem lies on your end.

(a) If Roku was "randomly targeting" individuals, there would be many other people besides yourself reporting the same problem.
(b) If they were doing such a thing, singling out Hulu alone doesn't make much sense.
(c) What would be their motive for this "forced upgrade" conspiracy? Roku loses money on hardware sales -- the bulk of their revenue stream is from digital advertising and content.

 

[Uncle Al]

Trouble with ANY smart TV with built in services is that they are easily hacked. Buying a "dumb" TV and adding the service is a lot safer .... not perfect but better ....