Roku Added 1.8 Million Active Users in Q2 2022; Users Streamed 20.7 Billion Hours
Roku on Thursday released its earnings report for the second quarter of 2022, and revealed that the company had added 1.8 million active accounts during Q2 to bring the free streaming service’s global total to 63.1 million. At the conclusion of Q1, Roku reported 61.3 million active users.
Additionally, Roku boasted over 20.7 billion total streaming hours in the quarter, down slightly from the previous three months when they reported 20.9B hours. However, the active users represent an increase of 14% year-over-year and the viewing hours jumped 19% since the equivalent quarter in 2021.
The company admitted that due to the larger economic environment impacting both consumers and advertisers, Roku experienced “a significant slowdown in TV advertising.” While the corporation anticipates that trend continuing in the near term, the platform revenue did increase by $26.3 million in the quarter as it jumped to $673.2M. That total is a 26% increase year-over-year.
The company also touted its continued ad market share and user growth, which it believes will position it well when financial circumstances improve.
In terms of engagement, Roku believes that it still has room for growth. Its 20.7 billion global hours of viewing times were broken down to an average of 3.7 hours per day, which is just under half of the 7.5 hours of legacy pay-TV consumed on a daily basis according to Neilsen.
Beginning in the second quarter, reports began circulating that Roku was involved in discussions to purchase part of cable network STARZ from film studio Lionsgate. The studio apparently would like to spinoff the channel and its streaming service into a separate company as early as next month, and Roku has consistently been one of the major companies linked to the process.
The news of Roku’s interest in STARZ came just one week after the streamer signed a major deal with Lionsgate to serve as an exclusive home for the studio’s films following their theatrical releases. The free, ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) platform will receive two separate windows in which they will be the home for Lionsgate movies: First, after going to Starz, movies will have an exclusive window on the Roku Channel. That will be followed by a non-exclusive run with Roku.
While the potential deal for Roku to buy into STARZ does still appear to have the possibility of happening, Roku was the subject of a number of other reports during Q2 — some real, some imagined — that appear to have been completely scrapped. The first rumors began floating that Netflix could be looking to purchase the streamer, perhaps as a way to solidify the upcoming launch of it ad-supported tier, since Roku is — for all intents and purposes — an advertising distribution network.
While that was ultimately dismissed, the two companies did apparently discuss a potential partnership for Roku to help with the sales and infrastructure side of Netflix’s advertising expansion. While Netflix reportedly had talks with Roku, Comcast, and Google, the streamer ultimately decided to partner with Microsoft to facilitate their transition into advertising.
In addition to partnering with Lionsgate, Roku made numerous deals large and small during Q2 as part of the platform’s efforts to bulk up its content offerings on the service. The Roku Channel continued to add free channels, including multiple entertainment offerings, local news outlets, and a Spanish-language hub over the last three months. The platform also welcomed discovery+ as an add-on Roku Channel as well.
Despite all of these deals, Roku was not content to simply collect content. Instead, the streamer invested in original programming by announcing that it would bring multiple new programs from culinary TV icons Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart to the service. In conjunction with these partnerships, the Roku Channel has also begun streaming other shows from each of the host’s extensive archives.
Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is a free live TV streaming service that provides 350+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows. The library contains entertainment from several different decades, including some major hits.