Roku

The streaming media device company wants to attract more viewers and advertisers to its channel. A coming biopic of “Weird Al” Yankovic is its most ambitious project to date.

Both Paramount+’s ad-free and ad-supported plans are making their way to Roku’s aggregated subscription video lineup, Roku announced. In the coming weeks, viewers will be able to subscribe to either Paramount+’s essential plan ($4.99 per month) or its premium tier ($9.99 monthly) through The Roku Channel’s new dedicated programming guide for the service. This marks the first time Roku’s created such a guide for a premium subscription partner.

Roku said it secured more than $1 billion in commitments from advertisers during the upfront market, a record for the streaming platform. With more consumers cutting the cord and shifting to streaming, Roku has positioned itself as an alternative to traditional TV. Roku said its upfront negotiation happened concurrently with the broadcast networks, signaling a strategic shift to TV streaming for brands.

The Netflix Co-CEO does confirm that it’s talking to Roku, Google and Comcast about potential partnerships.

Rumors that Netflix might be interested in buying Roku boosted Roku’s stock on June 6 but produced mixed reactions from analysts.

Roku shares traded firmly higher Wednesday following a report that linked the streaming service hub to a potential takeover by Netflix. Business Insider reported Wednesday that Roku has recently closed the window during which employees can sell their vested stock grants, citing people familiar with the matter, and that talk inside the San Jose, Calif.-based group has focused on a potential takeover bid from streaming giant Netflix.

Roku Inc. has teamed with private-equity firm Apollo Global Management to bid for a minority stake in the pay TV and streaming service Starz, which is known for series like Outlander and Power, according to people familiar with the situation.

Supply chain issues are limiting the number of players and smart TVs available to new streaming customers, and that’s a problem for companies like Netflix and Roku.

Roku has signed a multiyear theatrical output deal with Lionsgate, enabling the connected TV provider to exclusively stream Lionsgate’s theatrically released films. Lionsgate movies will be available on the Roku Channel after they initially premiere on Starz, the studio’s subsidiary network.

To Roku, the 60th anniversary of the upfront is a good time to make streaming a more important part of advertisers’ TV budgets. “This year, our goal is to really shake up the upfronts,” Kristina Shepard, head of agency partnerships and national brand team lead for Roku, says.

CNN+, the subscription streaming service from CNN, launched Monday in the United States on the Roku platform. Roku users will be able to download the the CNN app through the Roku channel store which will contain both the CCN+ subscription service and access to the current “TV everywhere experience” for pay TV subscriber, the companies said in a statement on Monday. That includes live TV feeds of CNN, CNN International and HLN.

Roku and Amazon have reached a multi-year extension for their distribution agreement, meaning customers can continue to access the Prime Video and IMDb TV apps on their Roku devices.

CNN Plus will also likely be shut out of Google TV and Android TV on its first day. WarnerMedia said it’s working to expand distribution.

David Eilenberg, most recently chief creative officer at ITV America, will become head of Roku Originals for the company, overseeing the creative vision and go-to-market strategy for all of Roku’s original content. Colin Davis, Roku’s head of scripted originals, and Brian Tannenbaum, the head of alternative originals, will now report to Eilenberg. Eilenberg will report to Roku VP Programming Rob Holmes.

Roku claims its OneView is the first ad-buying platform to enable Nielsen guarantees across TV streaming platforms. Upfront advertisers in OneView will now have the ability to see and measure audiences across major devices, channels, and publishers and can choose a specific age and gender demographic and pay only for the ad impressions that reach their target audience.

Major streaming provider Roku has announced that one of its top execs, platform chief Scott Rosenberg, plans to depart the company in the spring after a nearly 10-year run. In an announcement, company founder and CEO Anthony Wood said Rosenberg is “ready for his next professional challenge.” Rosenberg’s current title is SVP and GM of platform business.

According to Atlantic Equities’ Hamilton Faber, Roku faces too much competition in the OTT platform business from Google, Amazon, Samsung and LG to keep growing in the U.S., where its leading market share hovers around 40%.

Ted Lasso, the acclaimed Apple TV+ comedy, was the top series of 2021, according to a poll of Roku users. The streaming platform surveyed more than 50,000 viewers and asked them to rank their favorite series of 2021

Hisense debuted its first Roku-powered 8K smart TV on the shelves (virtual and otherwise) of Best Buy and Amazon earlier this month. And already, we’re seeing a trend re-emerge that defined the 4K smart TV era — smart TV’s made by Chinese manufacturers, enabled with the Roku OS, undercutting more expensive Korean rivals.

Roku stock closed up 18% on Wednesday after it said it had reached a multiyear agreement with Google to keep YouTube and YouTube TV on its streaming platform. The deal will allow the 56.4 million active Roku accounts to continue to watch YouTube and YouTube TV, Google’s livestreaming service, without disruption.

Just days after analyst Michael Nathanson downgraded Roku shares, Roku has announced a significant ramp-up of its so-far-limited original content strategy. Roku, which doesn’t charge users to stream content over its Roku Channel, plans to develop 50 “ad-friendly” new shows for 18-49 year-olds between now and 2024, and is now taking pitches for scripted and unscripted shows.

Roku shares were down more than 11% Wednesday after MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson cut the stock to “Sell” over concerns that revenue and earnings estimates for the streaming giant “are just too damn high.” He’s particularly concerned that Roku will need to drive more impressions for advertising VoD (AVoD) inventory as revenue growth from subscription-based VoD services start to slow. And he’s not optimistic that Roku will be able to pull it off.

Roku stock dropped sharply in after-hours trading after the company reported third quarter revenue that fell just short of Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate. Revenue of $680 million missed the Street number by a bit more than $3 million. On the bottom line, though, earnings per share of 48 cents far outpaced the estimate of 6 cents.

The move is designed to let publishers measure channel content on Roku devices within Nielsen Digital Content Ratings.

The Roku Channel and Tubi, two of the biggest free, ad-supported television services (FAST) in the U.S., keep adding original content to stand out in the crowd. The Roku Channel is snatching up the recently canceled NBC comedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist for a new holiday special, which will be first original feature-length film. At the same time, Tubi, the ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox, announced that it will debut Corrective Measures, a new original film starring Bruce Willis and Michael Rooker, in spring 2022.

A new deal ends the impasse that kept the cable operator’s OTT app from being downloaded on Roku.

Roku posted another strong quarter of results, but its shares fell 9% in after-hours trading due to factors like a dip in streaming hours and flattening growth trajectory of its active accounts. The streaming provider said net revenue grew 81% year-over-year to $645 million, ahead of Wall Street forecasts. Operating income reached $69.1 million, compared with a loss of $42.2 million in the year-earlier quarter.