Roku provides a streaming entertainment ecosystem built around hardware devices (Roku TVs, streaming players, smart home gear, and audio gear) and a purpose-built operating system. Its devices run the Roku OS to deliver apps and streaming content to televisions. The Roku Channel offers free, ad-supported content and Roku Originals are exclusive programs produced in-house, bundled with advertising revenue and content distribution. The business model blends hardware sales, advertising, and distribution of content through its platform. Roku differentiates itself by offering a wide range of affordable devices, a centralized ad-supported free channel, and in-house originals, creating an integrated yet open platform for apps and content. The company’s goal is to grow a large, easy-to-use streaming ecosystem that combines hardware, software, and content to reach many households and monetize through device sales, ads, and distribution deals.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
San Jose, California
Founded
2002
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Roku says its new home screen was a major success. October 11, 2026 Roku presented detailed performance data at its annual Developer Summit indicating that the company's redesigned home screen has delivered substantial improvements in user engagement since its rollout. The updated interface, which began reaching more than 100 million streaming households earlier in 2026 as the most significant overhaul of the experience in more than a decade, has produced measurable lifts across key navigation and discovery metrics. Company representatives outlined the results during sessions focused on content discovery, platform evolution, and opportunities for app partners. According to the announcement, since the launch, the new Roku interface has driven a 60 percent higher click-through rate. It has also increased deep-page navigation by 17 percent and boosted category visits by 83 percent. These figures reflect stronger interaction with personalized recommendations, Quick Access rows that adapt to individual viewing habits, expanded destinations such as For You and Subscriptions, and intelligence-driven Top Picks sections that surface relevant titles upon device startup. The changes were designed to reduce the time viewers spend searching across multiple services and to place desired content more immediately in front of them, addressing a long-standing friction point in streaming where users often browse even when they already know what they want to watch. The redesign builds on research showing that a large majority of streamers prefer to power on their devices and immediately see programming aligned with their interests. By elevating personalized rows, streamlining access to frequently used apps, and introducing more dynamic category hubs, the home screen encourages deeper exploration rather than limiting activity to a static grid of app icons. The elevated click-through rates suggest that viewers are more readily selecting promoted content, recommendations, and advertisements that remain visible without requiring additional scrolling. Increased deep-page navigation indicates that users are moving beyond the initial view into fuller catalogs and secondary destinations, while the sharp rise in category visits points to greater use of organized hubs for genres, live programming, free content, and cross-subscription discovery. These engagement gains carry implications for both viewers and the broader ecosystem of developers and content providers. Higher interaction rates can translate into more sessions initiated within partner apps, greater opportunities for subscription conversions through Roku Pay, and improved performance for advertising placements that appear on the home screen. Roku's platform business, which includes advertising and subscription-related revenue, has grown in importance as device hardware margins face pressure, and a more effective discovery surface supports that shift by increasing the value of inventory and the visibility of partner content. Developers attending the summit received updates on tools that allow greater coordination with the home screen, including options for dynamic layouts tied to seasonal events or viewer signals. The home screen functions as the primary entry point for tens of millions of daily activations in the United States alone, making its design central to how audiences encounter programming from major services as well as smaller channels. The reported improvements arrive amid ongoing competition among connected TV platforms for primacy in content discovery, where control of the interface can influence which titles surface first and how advertising is delivered. Roku has continued to expand related features, including further personalization elements and experimental tools through initiatives such as Roku Labs, while preparing additional home screen refinements for gradual rollout. With Roku prioritizing behavioral data already collected from viewing patterns, Roku aims to deliver relevant suggestions without requiring new explicit inputs from users. The metrics shared at the Developer Summit provide an early quantitative view of how these adjustments have performed at scale following the initial deployment. As the company advances subsequent updates centered on layout flexibility and more adaptive visual elements, both consumer satisfaction and partner outcomes will continue to depend on how effectively the home screen converts attention into sustained viewing and monetization activity across the platform. Please add Cord Cutters News as a source for your Google News feed HERE. 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Battle of the Streaming Stars series coming to Roku. Roku today announced Battle of the Streaming Stars, a new competition series from Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions, with Terry Crews set to host and executive produce. Roku has ordered two specials, the first launching on October 23 and the second in early 2027 exclusively on The Roku Channel. Nearly five decades after IMG's Battle of the Network Stars first brought television's biggest personalities together for an unforgettable clash of networks, Battle of the Streaming Stars brings the format into the streaming era. Comedians, actors, reality stars, and creators from audiences' favorite shows will trade the couch for the field, going head-to-head in larger-than-life challenges inspired by the shows and movies people love. In each hour-long special, three teams of four battle it out over several rounds for a single prize: the Golden Roku Remote. Kay Adams will join the competition from the sidelines, bringing her sports expertise and on-camera energy to the action while capturing the strategy and smack talk. Yvette Nicole Brown will serve as the competition's referee, keeping the stars - and their rivalries - in check. Competitors will be announced in the coming weeks. "'Battle of the Network Stars' was an iconic celebration of television, bringing together the personalities audiences loved," said Brian Tannenbaum, Head of Roku Originals, Roku Media. "With 'Battle of the Streaming Stars,' Vital Thrills is taking that spirit and reinventing it for how audiences stream entertainment today. "Together with Peyton Manning and Omaha Productions, Terry Crews, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Kay Adams, we're bringing some of streaming's most entertaining personalities off the screen and onto the field for a competition that's big, funny, unexpected, and uniquely Roku." "Battle of the Network Stars' was must-watch TV in the 80s. We're excited to team up with Roku to bring that same concept back for the streaming era," said Peyton Manning, Co-Founder, Omaha Productions. "Terry, Yvette, and Kay are great, and you won't want to miss the stars battling it out for the Golden Remote." "'In the same spirit as the original series, anything can happen in Battle of the Streaming Stars. Some of the funniest, most competitive people in entertainment finally get to prove who's the best athlete in the room, and trust me, egos are going to get tested," said Terry Crews. "Coming together with Yvette, Kay, and the teams at Roku and Omaha Productions to create this show has been incredible, and I can't wait for people to see who takes home that Golden Remote." Battle of the Streaming Stars is produced by Omaha Productions with Peyton Manning, Jamie Horowitz, Colin Campbell, and Dan Gati executive producing. The project is overseen by Sean Boyle and Louisa L. Friedman on behalf of Roku Originals. Keith Geller serves as the showrunner.
This $1,200 Roku TV is faster for gaming than a $3,400 Samsung. No, seriously. I've tested hundreds of TVs, and I didn't expect the Roku Pro Series OLED to steal the gaming crown from one of the industry's most expensive flagships and deliver the lowest input lag I've ever measured. Principal Writer, Consumer Electronics OUR EXPERT Will is a seasoned reviewer and certified TV calibrator with 20 years of experience, specializing in home theater, VR, smart glasses, and gaming. Edited By: September 28, 2026 (Credit: Jeffrey Hazelwood/Roku) Having tested hundreds of TVs over the years, I know firsthand how devastating bad input lag can be when timing a parry or dodging an attack. Back in May, the Samsung S95H ($3,399.99 for 65 inches) earned its first PCMag Lab Award for lowest input lag. Since then, two far more affordable contenders have stepped into the ring: the Hisense U6SF Pro ($1,099 for 65 inches) and the Roku Pro Series OLED ($1,199.99 for 65 inches). After testing both side by side in PC Labs, the Roku came out on top by a fraction of a millisecond, making it its new undisputed speed champion for gaming and the latest recipient of its Lab Award. Why input lag is the ultimate make-or-break gaming metric. Input lag is the amount of time between a signal being sent to a screen and the screen updating. It's a vital metric to consider for gaming because latency can make play feel sluggish and throw off your timing enough to make attacking, dodging, and parrying nearly impossible. You want the lowest lag possible, especially for fighting games, character action games, and any other type of game where every moment counts.
Roku launches A Teen & kids mode that limits what apps your kids can use & removes ads on Roku TVs & Roku Players. September 24, 2026 Roku has rolled out Kid & Teen Mode across its platform for customers in the United States and Brazil streaming stores, giving account holders tighter control over which applications children and teens can open on Roku TVs and Roku Players. The feature is designed for users under 18 and sits in Settings, where a parent or guardian selects participating apps that are already installed on the device and decides whether the child can switch HDMI inputs. Exiting the mode can be locked behind the account's four-digit PIN. For now, this mode is slowly rolling out, and not everyone has access to it. Here is what the mode looks like: Once the mode is active, the home screen is reduced to the approved apps plus a short list of settings: Network, Accessibility, System About, and, on Roku TVs, a sleep timer. Search, the general browse experience, Guest Mode, voice commands, antenna TV, AirPlay, and other casting tools are all blocked. Purchases and subscriptions that run through Roku Pay are also disabled, though third-party apps that use their own payment systems remain outside Roku's direct control. Roku with the Kids & Teen mode also removed the ads from the Roku home screen. Only apps whose publishers have chosen to participate appear in the App Access list. Early participants include Netflix, PBS Kids, CoComelon, Blippi, HappyKids, Kidoodle, and several other kids-focused services. Availability can change as more partners join. When one of those apps launches from Kid & Teen Mode, Roku sends a profileType signal of "kids" so the publisher can adjust content, advertising, and data practices. Developers can read the same value through BrightScript APIs or an updated QueryDeviceInfo command. The company notes that a "teen" value is reserved for possible future settings; today the mode always reports "kids." Rating limits can be applied to The Roku Channel and Roku-owned services such as Howdy once those apps are added to the allowed list. Until a parent sets a higher ceiling, only G, TV-G, and TV-Y titles play. Personalized advertising from Roku itself is turned off inside the mode, though ads that comply with applicable law may still appear. Setup requires an existing Roku PIN. After the parent confirms they are the guardian, they pick the apps, toggle input access if desired, and enter the mode. The PIN lock for leaving the mode can later be switched off. Exiting always needs an internet connection; if the PIN is forgotten, a QR code on the device points to the account page at my.roku.com for a reset. The feature does not replace in-app parental controls that Netflix, Disney+, or other services already offer. Roku advises families to configure those profiles and PIN locks before adding an app to Kid & Teen Mode. It also does not impose daily screen-time quotas; the only built-in timer is the existing sleep-timer option on Roku TVs. By limiting the app catalog at the platform level and signaling publishers that a child is using the device, Roku is closing a long-standing gap. Previously, a PIN could block new channel installs and restrict ratings inside The Roku Channel, but it could not stop a child from opening any already-installed service. Kid & Teen Mode now gives parents a single switch that hides everything except the apps they explicitly approve, while still leaving the actual viewing experience inside those apps to the publishers who know their own catalogs best. The mode is live now for eligible devices in the two markets where it has launched. Please add Cord Cutters News as a source for your Google News feed HERE. Please follow Cord Cutters News on Facebook and X for more news, tips, and reviews. Need cord cutting tech support? Join its Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.
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