Streaming developer Roku grew its hardware and platform-based revenue to $1.02 billion during the first three months (Q1) of the year, the company disclosed on Thursday.
Its overall revenue increased 16 percent compared to the same quarter in 2024, and was up incrementally on a sequential basis, with the company earning about as much as it did during the last three months of last year, a period that includes the lucrative holiday shopping season.
Platform revenue, which is tied to subscription sales and advertising, climbed to $880.8 million during Q1, up 17 percent on a year-over basis. Sequentially, Roku’s subscription and advertising revenue was down 14 percent, though the company was on track given seasonal adjustments.
Hardware revenue, which accounts for sales of Roku’s streaming devices and smart TVs, was $139.9 million, up 11 percent on a year-over basis. Total gross profit increased 15 percent to $445 million, though it was down 13 percent on a sequential basis.
The company has concentrated more of its efforts on its advertising and subscription business, which includes subscription to third-party services sold on its platform and within its Roku Channel app, as well as advertising inventory available across on-demand and free linear content streams within the same app. (The Roku Channel is widely available on competing platforms like Fire TV, Samsung’s Tizen OS and Android TV, too.)
For this reason, the company stopped disclosing the number of customers who use Roku’s streaming devices, starting with the financial report released on Thursday. At last count, Roku had around 90 million streaming customers using its devices and smart TVs.
As with Netflix, Roku is choosing to focus on engagement instead. During Q1, the company said Roku users streamed 35.8 billion hours of content, an increase of 16 percent compared to the 30.1 billion hours of content streamed during the same period in 2024.
Also on Thursday, Roku announced it will spend $175 million to acquire wallet-friendly streaming pay TV service Frndly TV, which offers around 50 entertainment and knowledge-based channels for around $9 per month. The company said Frndly TV’s approach to programming and pricing fit nicely with the company’s own business model. The transaction is expected to close within the next few weeks.
