Streaming hardware maker Roku logged a 13 percent increase in streaming households and saw its total net revenue surpass $1 billion during its third financial quarter (Q3) of the year, the company disclosed this week.
On Wednesday, Roku said the number of households using its streaming pucks, sticks and smart TVs to watch Internet-connected content surpassed 85.5 million, up from the 83.6 million Roku accounts reported during Q2 and nearly 10 million more than what was logged during Q3 2023.
Total platform revenue clocked in at $908.2 million and accounted for most of Roku’s Q3 earnings. Platform revenue includes the sale of advertisements against Roku’s home screen and free, ad-supported streaming service, The Roku Channel, and the sale of third party subscriptions purchased via the Roku operating system. Total platform gross profit was $491.8 million, the company said.
Device revenue, which includes the sale of streaming devices and smart TVs, was $154 million during the quarter, Roku said. The company logged a loss of $11.7 million from its hardware business, which was fully offset (and then some) by its platform business.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) was $41.10, an increase of slightly under $0.50 on a quarterly basis but flat when compared to the prior year.
Streaming hours climbed to 32 billion during Q3, boosted by high interest in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and the start of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season. Roku offered dedicated content menus for both sports. The average Roku user streamed slightly more than four hours of content each day, the company said, adding that there was room to grow based on Nielsen’s assertion that the average American watches 7 hours of TV each day.
In addition to sports, Roku said users are streaming more news content than they did in prior quarters, spurred by higher interest in U.S. and global politics. The platform offered an easy way for users to find the September 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, which was produced by ABC News and widely available on FAST channels offered through The Roku Channel, the company said. During that debate, “more than half of Roku Channel viewers in the U.S. watched on one of the live channels” offered through the service, the company affirmed.
The Roku Channel had its best month in August, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report, with 4.1 percent of total time spent with TV that month across all streaming platforms. The FAST service was the third most-used app on the platform in terms of reach and engagement, the company said. It did not name the other two most-used apps, but they are presumably Netflix and YouTube, which command the highest share of TV time per The Gauge.
Starting next year, certain key metrics will be harder to come by: Roku said it will stop disclosing the number of streaming households that are using its platform on a quarterly basis, and will also stop publicizing its ARPU. Instead, the company will “updating our Key Performance Metrics (KPMs)” to better align with certain priorities, which will see a greater emphasis on “Streaming Hours, Platform revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and Free Cash Flow” — all of which executives say Roku remains committed to growing in the future.
