Key Financial Data
- Total Q1 revenue: $1.25 billion (+22% year-over)
- Platform revenue: $1.13 billion (+28%)
- Devices revenue: $118 million (-16%)
- Gross profit: $565 million (+27%)
- Advertising revenue: $613 million (+27%)
- Subscription revenue: $519 million (+30%)
- Net income: $86 million
- Streaming hours: 38.7 billion (+8%)
- Streaming households: >100 million
- Read more Q1 2026 media earnings
Roku kicked off the first three months of the year with a solid start, with the streaming company growing its subscription and advertising revenue to earn more than $1 billion during the first quarter (Q1).
Total net revenue reached $1.25 billion during the first three months of 2026, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to its shareholder letter released on Thursday. Platform revenue, which includes advertising and subscriptions sold within Roku’s ecosystem, climbed 28 percent to $1.13 billion, offsetting continued weakness in its hardware segment.
Advertising remained a key growth driver, with revenue rising 27 percent to $613 million while subscriptions revenue increased 30 percent to $519 million, Roku noted. The company also reported a sharp improvement in profitability: Net income totaled $86 million, compared to a net loss of $27 million in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 165 percent to $148 million, while free cash flow reached an all-time high on a trailing 12-month basis.
“We delivered an outstanding first quarter,” Roku chief executive Anthony Wood and chief financial officer Dan Jedda said in a joint statement.
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Roku executives said the results reinforce the company’s long-term strategy of prioritizing platform revenue and margin expansion.
“These results affirm our path to sustaining double-digit platform revenue growth, expanding margins, and growing our north star metric of free cash flow per share,” Wood and Jedda told shareholders.
The company highlighted its evolving advertising business as a competitive advantage, citing growth in programmatic ad spending and expanded integrations with major demand-side platforms. Roku said ad spend through third-party programmatic partners increased more than 40 percent compared to last year, reflecting broader adoption among marketers.
At the same time, Roku continued to diversify its revenue streams beyond media and entertainment advertisers. The company said non-entertainment brands now account for nearly 30 percent of advertising revenue tied to its home screen experience, an all-time high.
Subscription growth also contributed meaningfully to results, with Roku pointing to strong performance in premium subscription sign-ups and expansion of its own services. The company recently broadened distribution for its ad-free “Howdy” streaming service and added new subscription options through its platform.
Roku’s device business has slowed down in recent quarters compared to the company’s advertising and subscription income, and Q1 was no exception: Sales of its streaming devices and smart TVs fell 16 percent on a year-over basis, bringing in $118 million during the period. Roku noted its hardware revenue count doesn’t include smart TVs sold by other companies like Westinghouse and Hisense that license Roku’s operating system for their devices.
To that end, Roku said an ongoing shortage of computer memory triggered by the artificial intelligence craze could wind up bringing in more revenue from its hardware business: The company’s streaming operating system doesn’t require a significant amount of memory or storage to deliver apps and content. That will allow Roku to continue offering its streaming devices at an attractive price, and could attract more third-party TV makers to license Roku’s operating system for their own devices, executives noted.
Looking ahead, Roku said it expects continued growth, projecting platform revenue to increase about 20 percent in the second quarter and total net revenue to rise roughly 17 percent year-over-year. For the full year, the company raised its outlook, forecasting approximately $5.5 billion in total revenue and continued improvement in adjusted EBITDA.
