One of the less-discussed names in the streaming wars, Roku has been pushing ahead slowly but surely, continuing to make the best of a prime year for streaming. Due to the Coronavirus lockdowns, most streaming services saw a significant uptick in subscribers. Roku is no exception, and the company has reported an impressive boost in active users with their latest report.
According to estimates of global subscribers, Roku had around 13.4 million users as of 2016. By 2019, the streaming service was boasting around 36.9 million users. Now according to preliminary data, Roku has in one year risen to a total of 51.2 million active accounts, a huge increase and an impressive amount of growth, even considering the circumstances.
The company also had some numbers to share regarding viewership stats. In the fourth quarter alone, the service was viewed for 17 billion streaming hours with 58.7 billion hours over the entirety of 2020. This boost in viewership comes despite the launch of multiple other streaming platforms in 2020 such as Peacock, and HBO Max, not to mention aggressive expansion from the likes of Disney Plus.
Roku has the benefit of being slightly different to other streaming services, being sold both as a separate device and integrated into many lines of smart TVs. According to stats, Roku has been integrated into one out of every three TVs sold in the United States. This gives the service a huge potential audience that is only ever a few clicks away from becoming an active subscriber.
The service also released some fun trivia facts about popular search terms and content. Adam Sandler was the most searched person of the year, and the classic Christmas movie Elf was the #1 search term for both November and December. The most viewed free movie of the year was Ernest Saves Christmas, with The Spanish Princess taking the title of most-viewed subscription title.
CEO Anthony Wood expressed excitement over the huge number of new subscribers on their service, releasing a statement anticipating a streaming-based future: “The world is moving to streaming and we look forward to continuing to help viewers, advertisers, content publishers, and TV manufacturers succeed in the Streaming Decade.” It certainly seems as though streaming will only continue to become more and more prominent, as more and more companies try to stake their claim in the next big market.
Source: Deadline