Roku announced its plans to release a new live TV guide on its platform in support of its linear channels in the U.S., which now totals more than 100. “Now more than ever it’s important for our users to have easy access to free content, such as news, and the ability to find it quickly,” said Ashley Hovey, Roku’s director of AVOD Growth, in a statement. “We’re excited to enhance the streaming experience through a Live Channel TV Guide and bring more free content from The Roku Channel to the forefront.
Starting today, Roku is adding more than 30 new channels, filling categories like news (ABC News, Reuters, and more), sports (Stadium, Fubo Sports Network and more), entertainment, including several channels from ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV, kids, and family, such as a pocket. watch, Kid Genius and more, lifestyle including A+E Lively Place, The Bob Ross Channel, to name a few, and Spanish-language, including Latido Music, Pongalo NovelaClub, and more.
In addition to new channels, Roku will also add a live channel guide, which will be accessible through a new Live TV tile within the Roku Channel. It will display upcoming content within the following 12 hours and will allow users to simultaneously toggle between viewing all channels and recent channels. Live channels on Roku will now also include informational overlays and users will be able to surf between channels without needing to jump back out into the guide. The guide can also be seen by pressing left after launching the content. Hovey said the guide is something that the company has had in the works for a while, but that the coronavirus pandemic accelerated what Roku perceived as a need to add more value, more organization and more access to its platform.
The company said that the Roku Channel is growing faster than its overall platform and that it recorded a 100% increase in streaming hours a year over year. The Roku Channel now reaches approximately 36 million people. During the first quarter, Roku added 2.9 million incremental active accounts to raise its total to 39.8 million. The company’s total net revenue grew 55% year over year to USD 321 million, which Roku said was the fastest first-quarter revenue growth rate in the last five years. Advertising can become a large contributor to Roku in the future as its live TV channel lineup grows and as marketers increasingly allocate more of their linear TV advertising budgets to connected TV platforms.
The full list of new channels includes The Bob Ross Channel, Bon Appetit, Condé Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Glamour, GQ, Wired, Game Show Central, Reelz, Gravitas Movie Channel, SportsGrid, Brat TV, FilmRise Action, Revry, Love Nature, MAVTV Select, Deal or No Deal, Family Feud, Got Talent Global, XUMO Free Movies, XUMO Free Westerns, Kidz Bop TV, ZooMoo, Buzzr TV, Voyager, Reuters, PowerNation, Teletubbies, Rainbow Ruby, Redbox Free Movies, Kidoodle TV, Rev and Roll, and Ryan and Friends. The six Spanish-language channels include Pongalo NovelaClub, Moviemix by Pongalo, AFV Espanol, Latido Music, Love Nature Spanish, and AmericaTeve, which launched ahead of the news announcement.
Now more than ever it’s important for our users to have easy access to free content, such as news, and the ability to find it quickly. We’re excited to enhance the streaming experience through a Live Channel TV Guide and bring more free content from The Roku Channel to the forefront.” Ashley Hovey Roku’s director of AVOD Growth
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