Roku Hits 15 Million Channel Downloads
Sales Surge as Viewing Increases and Number of Channels Expands
Saratoga, Calif. – May 9, 2011 – Roku, Inc., the leading Internet TV platform, today announced that it has delivered 15 million channel downloads to its base of more than one million Roku viewers. The growth in channels installed has been driven by two factors: the expanding selection of entertainment in the Roku Channel Store; and accelerating sales fueled by the company’s recent move into U.S. retail stores. Roku predicts it will surpass 3 million customers by the end of this year.
“We’re seeing a tremendous amount of growth and excitement around the Roku platform—from the number of Roku players we are selling to the amount of content our customers are consuming,” said Roku Founder and CEO Anthony Wood. “The popularity of Roku is driven by our inexpensive price points, which drive mainstream adoption, and the strength of our open platform, which benefits content partners who want to easily reach a rapidly growing TV audience.”
With its launch in 2008 as the original Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) streaming player, Roku became the first Internet TV device platform to take hold with mainstream American consumers. In 2009, Roku added the Roku Channel Store, the first true app store and open development environment for long- and short-form streaming entertainment to the TV. Since then, Roku has become the partner of choice for content owners who want to reach TV viewers directly. The simplicity of the Roku platform sets it apart—allowing developers to quickly deploy content with a variety of monetization options.
“Roku is clearly the easiest streaming device for consumers to use, “ said Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback, “and it’s also easy to develop for. We quickly built a great looking application, and have been extremely happy with the response from both our existing viewers, and new ones who discovered us on the platform. It’s great to be among the top Roku channels!”
With more than 225 entertainment channels and counting, Roku players deliver the best collection of streaming entertainment available for the TV. Customers can choose from more than 100,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video (NASDAQ: AMZN), Crackle and Revision3; live and on-demand sports from NBA Game Time, NHL GameCenter Live and Ultimate Fighting Championship; music from Pandora, MOG, Rdio, and TuneIn Radio; photo and video sharing from Flickr and Facebook; plus news and entertainment from around the world.
Pricing and Availability
Roku offers three versions of the award-winning Roku streaming player—the $59.99 Roku HD, the $79.99 Roku XD and the $99.99 Roku XDS. All Roku models feature built-in wireless and high-definition streaming. Roku players are available online and in retail stores from Roku, Amazon.com, Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Fry’s Electronics and RadioShack.
