Roku is getting out of the smart home hardware business, ending a four-year effort to sell security cameras, connected lighting and other household devices as the company shifts its attention back to streaming television.
The decision comes less than a week after Fox Corporation completed its $22 billion deal to acquire Roku, though the streaming TV developer has been quietly winding down its smart home offering for several months, according to a report published by Lowpass on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Roku confirmed to the newsletter that the company is exiting the smart home market in order to “(sharpen) our focus on Roku’s core mission: Being the top streaming platform.”
“As part of that, we plan to wind down sales of smart home hardware and will provide continued support and services for Roku Smart Home products,” the spokesperson said.
Roku launched its smart home business four years ago, offering surveillance cameras, smart doorbells and smart lighting solutions made by third-party partners. Its cameras were manufactured by Wyze under a white-label arrangement, with smart devices connected to a dedicated hub on Roku’s smart TVs, streaming devices and smartphone apps.
The expansion was intended to give Roku another source of revenue through hardware sales and optional subscriptions while encouraging consumers to remain within its tech ecosystem, but the products never became a substantial part of the company’s business.
In its latest earnings report, Roku said hardware sales accounted for less than $200 million of its $1.5 billion in revenue during the third quarter (Q3) of the year. By comparison, avertising and subscriptions captured $1.3 billion in revenue.
Signs of the company’s withdrawal appeared earlier this year, when Roku stopped mentioning its smart home business in the company description included with quarterly investor communications. Most of the products have since disappeared from retail shelves and online stores.
Today, only two products remain available on the Roku website: An indoor surveillance camera and a smart doorbell. Both are heavily discounted to clear out remaining inventory.
It wasn’t clear if Roku plans to allow other smart devices to hook into its TVs and streaming dongles. Other companies, like Amazon and Google, have robust smart home platforms with similar accessories that pair natively with their connected TVs. Apple recently entered the smart home accessory market through a partnership with LG and Schneider Electric.
Roku has not disclosed how many smart home customers it serves or how much revenue the business generated. The company also has not specified how long it intends to maintain software updates, subscriptions and other services for existing devices.
