Roku Still Growing Like a Weed

Roku’s Q4 earnings are in and the weed like growth continues from last quarter. A couple of points to note:

  • Sales and marketing expense has accelerated the last two quarters as Roku builds up their army of sales people driving advertising sales for the platform and Roku Channel.

  • Players were sold for a cumulative loss this quarter. Selling the players at breakeven or a loss is possible with the added revenue growth from the platform advertising/subscription sales and the platform accounting for 100% of company profit.

  • The company narrative or growth plan is shifting from platform to international. Successful traction in Canada mixed with successful launches in the UK, Mexico and Brazil are Roku’s new tagline.

  • The overall growth figures remain strong. Total active accounts grew 36% to ~37 million. ARPU was up nearly 29% year over year and hours of streaming is still growing more than 60% year over year.

Bottom line: Cord cutting has legs and Roku remains well positioned to continue to benefit as the smart TV platform of choice.