Roku passes 80m active accounts and 100bn streaming hours in 2023

Roku has surpassed 80 million active accounts and 100 billion streaming hours at the end of 2023, according to its latest Q4 financial results.

Anthony Wood (Source: Roku)

During the fourth quarter of last year the streaming operator reported it gained 4.2 million new accounts which Roku notes was driven primarily by the Roku TV programme in the US and international markets.

Global users also streamed a record of 29.1 billion hours alone in Q4, reaching 106. billion hours for the whole of 2023. It becomes the first year in which the company has surpassed 100 billion hours, representing an increase of 21% year-on-year for streaming hours on the Roku platform and a 63% year-on-year increase for streaming hours on The Roku Channel.

The company also recorded engagement growth per account globally, with streaming hours per active account per day of 4.1 hours in Q4, up from 3.8 hours in Q4 2022 and 3.6 hours in Q4 2021.

Platform revenue by the end 2023 rose by 10% year-on-year to $3 billion, however average revenue per user was down 4% year-on-year. It also saw a loss of $792,377,000 across operations by the end of 2023 and significantly less net loss of $ 78 million during Q4 compared to the year prior.

In Q4 ad spending on traditional TV decreased 11% which saw traditional ad scatter decreased 9% year-on-year. Roku said this was driven by the current unsteady US ad market but highlighted it saw signs of rebounds.

Anthony Wood, founder and CEO, Roku said: “In Q4 and for full year 2023, streaming services distribution activities grew faster than Platform revenue overall, benefiting from increases in both subscription sign-ups and prices. As subscription prices increase, we believe consumers will seek savings via ad-supported subscriptions that have been launched by the major streaming services in the U.S. We believe these launches, along with growing consumer adoption, will be a catalyst within the industry for the shift of ad dollars from traditional TV to streaming. Roku is well-positioned to benefit from this shift due to our significant scale of 80 million active accounts and the tools to help streaming service partners not only attract subscribers but also grow engagement, which is critical in an ad-supported environment.”

Going into 2024, the Roku boss said the company will focus on growing its content and its advertising revenue for its streaming operations.