VIP president and chief media analyst Andrew Wallenstein discussed Roku’s position in the content and advertising space with Scott Rosenberg, its SVP and general manager of platform business, for theย?Varietyย?Entertainment Summit, in partnership with CES 2021.
Going over viewership trends and the role Roku can play throughout the TV industry’s future, Rosenberg dropped some impressive stats.
โWe had a 55% growth in streaming hours,” he said. “Thatโs our measure of user engagement. Weโre the number one TV in the US. 38% of all smart TVs sold in the US were powered by the Roku operating system. Weโre number one in Canada as well.”
Rosenberg went on to attribute Roku’s numbers to two factors.
“One is this is a secular transition,” he explained. “All televisionโs going to be streamed. Everybodyโs going to leave the traditional pay TV package. That was a trend that was well underway before the pandemic.”
Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 is the second factor.
“The pandemic really accelerated the transition,” he said. “That really owes to the drying up of live sports and news, so the pay TV package just wasnโt as attractive to the consumers who were still in the pay TV package. It really created the incentive for consumers to cut the cord.”
“About a third of US households have now cut the cord,” he continued. “Among our universe, 92% of Roku consumers who’ve cut the cord have said that they’re very satisfied and they’re not going back. So the pandemic really pulled forward, accelerated a bunch of change that was already well underway.”
“Roku’s done well because of our product offerings, because we keep the user experience simple and intuitive,” he said, wrapping up his point. “It’s a great content lineup. The value equation’s really there. You can get into a Roku streaming stick for 29 bucks, or you can get an incredible 65-inch television with Roku built in.”
