roku

Roku lays off 200 US employees, citing economic conditions • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 17, 2022Posted in Layoffs, Media & Entertainment, rokuNo Comments

Roku wrote in a new SEC filing that it plans to cut 200 jobs in the U.S. as it braces for economic headwinds. Thanks to the workforce reduction, the company expects to incur a non-recurring charge of between $28 to $31 million, mainly because of severance payments, employee benefits contributions, other related expenses, and notice pay “where applicable,” Roku said. The company added that it expects most of the restructuring charges to come in Q4 2022 and that the job cuts, including cash payments, will be “substantially complete” by the end of the first quarter of 2023. In trading before the bell, shares of Roku dropped nearly 3%. “Due to the current economic conditions in our industry, we have made the difficult decision to reduce Roku’s headcount expenses by a projected 5%, to slow down our [Operating Expenses] growth rate. This will affect approximately 200 employee positions in the U.S. Taking these actions now will allow us to focus our investments on key strategic priorities to drive future growth and enhance our leadership position,” Roku said in an official statement. The unfortunate news comes on the heels of Roku’s third-quarter results when it cautioned investors that it predicts an unsatisfactory fourth quarter as the estimated total net revenue is approximately $800 million or a 7.5% decline year over year. Many tech and media companies have had layoffs recently, including Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount Global, Amazon, Snap, Spotify, Twitter and Meta. Amazon was the most recent company to make major cuts yesterday. Last week, Meta laid off 13% of its workforce, affecting 11,000 employees.

Roku’s home screen gains a new ‘Sports’ tab for users to access live and on-demand sports content • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in Media & Entertainment, rokuNo Comments

Roku announced today that the home screen menu will now include a new “Sports” tab that gives sports fans instant access to sports events, upcoming events and on-demand sports-related content. The feature on the Roku Home Screen has already begun to roll out to some users and will be gradually added to all Roku devices in the coming weeks, a Roku spokesperson told ZebethMedia. Within the Sports tab, users will see an array of dedicated rows, including a row with games that are currently live, upcoming sports events, as well as leagues, conferences, and the option to browse by sport, whether that be pro basketball, college basketball, soccer, hockey, and so forth. There will also be rows for free sports content, sports-related shows, as well as sports documentaries and movies. Once the user makes a selection, they’ll see several viewing options, such as Apple TV, DIRECTV, FOX Sports, FuboTV, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Sling, The Roku Channel, TNT, TBS, and truTV. The company noted that more streaming apps would be added in the coming months. Image Credits: Roku The purpose of Roku’s sports hub is to simplify sports discovery by giving users a better way to find sports content across various platforms. Previously, if Roku users wanted to watch a specific live event, they had to click through multiple streaming apps or channels to find it. Rival Amazon made a similar announcement last month when it launched a new dedicated “Sports News & Highlights” row on the home screen of Fire TVs. Roku wrote in its official blog that a “centralized location” for sports was requested by 61% of users, according to a poll. There were 1,400 active Roku users who responded to the poll, which was conducted via the online survey tool Qualtrics in September 2021, said the Roku spokesperson. “We know that keeping track of where sports are being streamed has only become more fragmented over the past few years,” said Alex Hill, Director of Live & Sports, Roku, in a statement. “Watching your favorite teams should be simple, so we’ve made it a priority to build out a more seamless and streamlined way to discover and watch sports on our platform.” While sports content on The Roku Channel is slim, the company can’t help but promote its streaming service as well. The Roku Channel’s newest exclusive series “The Rich Eisen Show,” will get its own dedicated row within the Sports tab for users to stream all the latest episodes of the sports and entertainment talk show. The company also highlights the new Roku Original series “Emeril Tailgates” in its announcement, which features celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse creating new recipes for game day.

GIPHY comes to connected TVs with launch of a GIPHY Arts app for Roku • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 7, 2022Posted in giphy, Media & Entertainment, roku, short-form videoNo Comments

GIPHY Arts, the Giphy division dedicated to GIF art and artists, launched a free exclusive app on Roku today that allows users in select regions to view GIPHY Clips–30-second original short clips with audio—with their Roku devices. The new “Public Axis” channel is Giphy’s first app for connected TVs and brings short-form video content made by artists from mobile to the TV screen. It arrives on the same day that YouTube introduced its own plan to bring short-form video to TV viewers to challenge TikTok. At launch, “Public Axis” is available to Roku users in the U.S., the UK, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Australia, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, and Brazil. It’s free to download in the Roku Channel Store and doesn’t have ads. Users have access to various shorts, clips or “episodes” made by a commissioned artist. For instance, ListenMi released a three-episode series, “Remote Work Tales,” that feature relatable animated shorts about the work-from-home experience. Viewers can also check out Public Axis content on publicaxis.giphy.com. GIPHY Arts launched the Public Axis app on Roku devices to help promote artists to “an even broader audience,” the company wrote in its blog. Roku reported a net add of 2.3 million active accounts for the third quarter, bringing the total to 65.4 million. Roku, meanwhile, has recently embraced the short-form video trend, as well. The streaming media platform rolled out a new short-form video feature, “The Buzz,” to give users access to short content like trailers, interviews and images from AMC+, Apple TV+, BET+, SHOWTIME, Starz, and other partners. Giphy has been in the short-form video space a bit longer. It made its first step into this market in 2019 when it launched “GIPHY Video,” which has since been renamed “GIPHY Clips.” Today’s announcement comes eight months after TikTok integrated GIPHY Clips into the new TikTok Library, an in-app creation tool. Also, the company revealed a new 30-second ad last week, which is currently playing in movie theaters across New York City and Los Angeles.

Roku drops ~19% as it braces for a bumpy fourth quarter • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Hardware, Media & Entertainment, rokuNo Comments

As advertisers pull back on spending and supply chain disruptions persist, investors have braced themselves for an unpleasant quarter for Roku. And investors are probably right to be worried. Roku released its fiscal third-quarter earnings results on Wednesday, revealing that it is still experiencing slow growth in active accounts and revenue in a continuously challenging environment. The company also warned investors of a weak fourth quarter, telling shareholders it expects total net revenue of about $800 million, or a 7.5% decline year over year. Roku shares dropped nearly 19% in after-hours trading once investors saw the fourth quarter guidance. “As we enter the holiday season, we expect the macro environment to further pressure consumer discretionary spend and degrade advertising budgets, especially in the TV scatter market. We expect these conditions to be temporary, but it is difficult to predict when they will stabilize or rebound. We, therefore, anticipate Q4 Player revenue and Platform revenue to be lower year over year,” the company wrote in its letter to shareholders. And while Roku reported a total net revenue that beat expectations, the results are still much lower than in the past. Roku noted that its total revenue grew 12% year over year to $761 million, above its own expectation of $700 million. Analysts predicted Roku’s total revenue to reach $696 million this quarter. “Platform revenue grew 15% year over year, which was lower than our historical growth rates but positive given the difficult macro environment. Advertising spend on our platform continues to grow more slowly than our beginning-of-year forecast due to current weakness in the overall TV ad market, and the ad scatter market in particular,” the company said. Roku missed revenue expectations last quarter and reported a total net revenue of $764 million, which was $41 million less than Wall Street’s expectations. The company blamed the slowdown in TV ad spending for missing the mark. Meanwhile, the company also reported a net addition of 2.3 million incremental active accounts in Q3, bringing the total to 65.4 million, up from 61.3 million active accounts in the second quarter. Roku also had total streaming hours of 21.9 billion, up 1.1 billion from last quarter. Its free streaming service, The Roku Channel, saw a jump in streaming hours of 90% year-over-year. Roku continues to invest in The Roku Channel. Just this past month, the company launched the streaming service in Mexico, which marked a significant move for the service. Previously, The Roku Channel was only available in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. The Roku Channel also launched 14 new linear channels through its Live TV Guide and added Paramount+ as a new premium subscription option. Roku tries to be smart(er) Roku made a bold move last month by stepping into the connected home space with the launch of various smart home devices. The Roku Smart Home lineup includes security cameras, video doorbells, smart lights and voice-enabled smart plugs. With Google and Amazon already in the smart home market, it’s likely Roku doesn’t anticipate becoming the first choice for consumers. Still, it makes sense for the company to finally monetize the smart home experience to the many consumers that already have Roku smart TVs in their homes. During a conference call with reporters, Roku chief financial officer Steve Louden said: “Expanding into the smart home ecosystem is a natural extension for Roku. Obviously, we’re a leading TV streaming platform, and smart TV is usually at the center of someone’s smart household. It’s a good extension to leverage our existing 65 million active accounts.” The company added in its letter that it’s still “early days,” but Roku has the “necessary technology and expertise in hardware, software, and connectivity to deliver a smart home ecosystem that is simple, powerful, and delightful.” Roku also recently launched the 2022 version of the Roku Express streaming player, a Roku Wireless Bass, as well as its software update, Roku OS 11.5, which includes new features like a universal watch list, a “continue watching” feature and a discovery hub that features short-form content.

Roku dives into smart home market with security cameras, video doorbells, smart lights, and more • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 12, 2022Posted in Gadgets, roku, security cameras, smart home devices, video doorbellNo Comments

Roku’s newest venture goes beyond your TV screen: The hardware company just announced Roku Smart Home, a new lineup of devices including security cameras, video doorbells, smart lights, and voice-enabled smart plugs. The company also launched a Roku Smart Home mobile app and a security camera subscription service. Roku building out its home technologies is significant for the company as rivals Google and Amazon have dominated the competitive connected home space for years. The move makes sense for the company and is a pretty obvious one, given that Roku is looking for ways to increase its sources of income. The company missed Wall Street’s expectations last quarter when it reported total net revenue of $764 million. Roku’s new smart home devices include floodlight cameras, indoor/outdoor cameras, 360° indoor cameras, video doorbells, smart light bulbs, light strips and both indoor and outdoor plugs. A Roku spokesperson told ZebethMedia that “this is just the first step for Roku Smart Home,” and indicated more smart home products will launch in the future. “As the #1 selling smart TV [operating system] in the U.S., the Roku platform is used by tens of millions of households, and now we’re extending our ecosystem to include devices and services to power the modern smart home,” said Mustafa Ozgen, President, Devices, Roku, in a statement. “Branching further into the smart home category is a natural extension of our business, and we are proud to partner with Walmart to make the experience simple and affordable.” A select number of the new products are available to purchase today on Roku.com and Walmart.com. Plus, as part of its partnership with Walmart, consumers will also be able to buy the devices in retail at 3,500 Walmart stores starting Monday, October 17. The two companies partnered up in June to allow consumers to purchase items while streaming on Roku devices. Image Credits: Roku Roku’s new security cameras consist of indoor and outdoor cameras, a 360° camera for indoors, a video doorbell and a floodlight camera. Each device comes with HD video quality (1080p), person detection, motion and sound detection, night vision, two-way audio, cloud storage, as well as instant notifications and a loud siren. What’s more, all Roku’s smart home products are compatible with Roku’s voice assistant, Roku Voice, as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The Roku voice remote can be used to bring up video feeds on Roku TVs and Roku streaming players. Roku’s wired indoor camera and outdoor camera are, for the most part, the same in design, however, the outdoor camera comes with a 12.5 ft power adaptor. They both have a horizontal field vision of 130°. The devices range from $27 to $50, which are more affordable options than the $100 Google Nest wired camera. There’s also the battery-operated outdoor camera with 110° view and 6 month battery life for $74. The Indoor Camera 360° is $40 and tracks motion by panning and tilting the camera. Amazon’s similar indoor plug-in camera, the Blink Mini, is $35, and will soon get a Blink Mini Pan Tilt mount for $30. Image Credits: Roku The Video Doorbell & Chime costs $80 – $100 and is waterproof, wireless, and includes a rechargeable battery, head-to-toe view and package detection. Roku’s device competes on price with Ring’s Video Doorbell Wireless with Chime, which is $100. Roku’s wired floodlight camera is priced at $100, has a brightness of 2600 lumens, and features motion-activated lights and a waterproof design. With the floodlight camera, users can see a 270° area up to 30 ft away. In September, Amazon introduced a Blink wired floodlight camera for $100, which will be available to U.S. customers in the coming months. Ring also sells a wired floodlight cam for $200. Google has a Nest Cam floodlight for $280. Image Credits: Roku Similar to Amazon’s Ring Protect plan, Roku offers a security camera subscription, which costs $2.99 per camera per month. There’s also a free 14-day trial. Ring’s cheapest security camera subscription plan increased to $3.99 per month in June. Google’s security camera subscription plan, Nest Aware, is more on the pricier side, starting at $6 a month, however, it includes 30 days of video history. Roku’s camera subscription retains video clips for 14 days. Users can also download the new Roku Smart Home mobile app to control devices, get cloud video recording history, turn on smart alerts, get package delivery notifications, and more. Image Credits: Roku The new smart light bulbs are available in white and color and range from $6.88 to $24. With a brightness of 800 lumens, Roku’s smart bulbs can be customized within the Roku Smart Home app, such as a dimming feature, time schedules, and more. Roku’s smart light strips cost $23 to $45, feature lighting effects, and can be synced with music, making it a great device for parties. Users can set a timer for the lights as well. Electronic devices can be controlled throughout the home with Roku’s voice-enabled smart plugs, which cost $8.88-$15.