The coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders had a positive impact on streaming services in 2020. Now that the pandemic seems to be improving, are people still paying for streaming subscriptions and devices like Roku? In Q1 of 2021, Roku picked up 2.4 million new users for a total of 53.6 million active accounts.
In Q1, Roku reports 18.3 billion hours of streaming, compared to an estimated 17 billion streaming hours in Q4.
The biggest headline in the Roku universe has been its feud with YouTube TV after the two companies began negotiations as their previous deal expired. There has been a lot of back and forth between the companies, but their agreement was ultimately terminated and YouTube TV was removed from the Roku store. Google claims that they were attempting to renew their existing deal under the same conditions, but Roku wanted exceptions for some of the technical specifications. According to Google, this isn’t uncommon for Roku.
Also this year, Roku introduced a handful of new products. The company launched a 4K streaming player, the Roku Express 4K+, which will be available on May 16th. Another new addition is the Roku Voice Remote Pro, which is a rechargeable remote with voice control and hands-free capabilities. This new remote is available from Roku.com now and can be purchased from major retailers in mid-May. The company also rebranded its Roku Smart Soundbar to the Roku Streambar Pro. While there are no major changes accompanying the rebrand, the new soundbar includes the Roku Voice Remote. The Roku Streambar Pro will be for sale on Roku.com later this month and other retailers in June.
Roku is also pushing into original programming with the series “Cypher” and all of Quibi's content rebranded as “Roku Originals”