Roku's Business Booms As People Stay Home In 2020

When we have to stay home, many businesses--like movie theaters--suffer. But that can't be said for Roku, the device company responsible for the most popular standalone streaming hardware outside of giants like Amazon and Apple. The company is seeing a boom in not just user accounts, but active use as well, THR reports.

The company has added 13.7 million accounts in the last year, causing its active account base to balloon to 46 million users. That growth in accounts and all of this indoor time we're experiencing helped drive 54% year-over-year increase in use of its devices, bringing use up to nearly 15 billion hours during the company's third quarter.

Roku's platform has grown enough that the company is shifting from providing just devices to trying to provide its own channels to watch on them, too. Roku butted heads with NBCUniversal over the Peacock streaming service this year due to Roku's desire for users to watch content on its native apps where it can collect user data and doesn't have to fight over ad revenue. The two companies reached an agreement last month, though, to get the Peacock service on Roku, along with keeping 46 other NBCUniversal broadcast and cable apps available for download and use. HBO Max, meanwhile, has yet to appear on the platform.

The subscription services that have helped make Roku a dominant force in streaming are doing similarly well. Netflix says that viewership is up and that it has no shortage of content despite some prominent COVID cancelations. Amazon's stock hit an all-time high this spring, no doubt in part thanks to its successful streaming service.