Roku grows customer base to 73.5 million during Q2

Streaming platform Roku saw its share price surged more than 10 percent in after-hours trading after the company reported an 11 percent increase in revenue during its second financial quarter of 2023.

On Thursday, Roku said it earned $847 million in net revenue during Q2, including $744 million in revenue from its platform business, which includes its free, ad-supported streaming service The Roku Channel. Total gross profit came in at $378.3 million, a year-over-year increase of 7 percent.

Monthly active users grew to 73.5 million, a 2.6 percent quarterly increase and 16 percent higher compared to Q2 2022. Roku said its customer growth was attributed to a stronger licensing program that saw more hardware makers install Roku’s streaming platform on third-party television sets.

Roku’s platform revenue and customer install growth was more than enough to offset losses from the sales of its streaming devices and television sets, with the company logging a $17.6 million loss during the quarter — another sign that the streaming hardware market appears to be at a saturation point.

“We delivered solid results in Q2, growing scale, engagement, and monetization,” a Roku executive wrote in a letter to shareholders on Thursday. “The operating environment remains largely unchanged from Q1, with strong consumer demand for Roku TV models, while TV advertising remains muted industry-wide.”

Average revenue per user clocked in at $40.67, the same figure reported during Q1 and a 7 percent annual decline.

Roku says it remains focused on building out its brand in overseas markets, including Latin America. The company continued its push in Mexico, where it claims to be the top streaming platform in the country, and expanded its licensing program to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Engagement continues to be high on Roku devices, with the company reporting 25.1 billion hours streamed during Q2, or about 3.8 streaming hours per active Roku account per day. Roku said its streaming hours continue to climb as viewers switch away from traditional broadcast and cable television. The Desk