One of the secrets of Roku's success has been its expansion beyond its roots as a set top box maker (a term the company tries to avoid). To do this, Roku CEO Anthony Wood built a loyal customer following by moving the company away from only selling its own boxes, instead now licensing its software to TV makers, so they can ship screens with the company's streaming TV platform built-in. This is a much higher margin business than selling streaming hardware, and almost one-third of so-called smart TVs sold last year included Roku's software.
Roku has also developed and licensed streaming programming of its own, backed by advertising. The Roku Channel, available on all its platforms, was 2019's most popular ad-backed streaming channel, ahead of rivals Pluto TV and Crackle, according to market research firm Parks Associates. That's another business that yields higher margins than producing set top boxes.
From the article "Wall Street isn’t sure Roku can lead cord cutters to the promised land" by Aaron Pressman.
Parks Associates’ research illustrates the gap between the content performance data that media executives want and what they can access. From the article, "Lacking Data and Tools: The 8 Barrier...
The educational landscape has undergone a profound transformation. Classrooms, once adorned with traditional teaching tools, have evolved into digital hubs where connectivity is no longer a luxury but...
Around 1 in 5 people age 50 and older own a doorbell camera, according to survey data from the Addison, Texas-based Parks Associates market research firm, figures that are roughly in line with all U.S...
As streaming services bundle together, monopolizing the delivery of shows – whether it’s the TV unit or the wifi - becomes more important, too. Vizio, with over 10% of television sales market share, i...
