Roku CEO Anthony Wood said the connected TV player sees a very large potential market segment for its low-cost $2.99 per month ad-free Howdy SVOD service, which is looking to be more attractive than some onlookers may have initially expected.
Wood shared comments around Howdy last week during Roku’s first quarter 2026 earnings call and on the heels of Antenna releasing estimates that Howdy had surpassed 1 million subscribers in just eight months since its August launch.
Analysts on the call questioned Roku leaders about potential for the service while noting the Antenna data and expressing the view that it’s clear Howdy is much bigger than most Wall Street analysts had anticipated.
While Wood declined to confirm Antenna’s subscriber estimates for Howdy, he did say the SVOD is “doing extremely well.”
It’s not as large as The Roku Channel – which is Roku’s main owned-and-operated streaming service that’s the No. 2 app on the company’s platform, and as Wood acknowledged, the opposite of Howdy in that its primarily linear streaming and a fully free ad-supported model.
As we’ve written before, Howdy is a somewhat unique offering and proposition in the broader market. With Howdy, Wood said Roku is “going after a segment of the market that’s not currently served” in the sense of an inexpensive, ad-free and on-demand entertainment streaming service.
Wood said that “streaming services have been raising their prices” and “they've been increasing their ad loads.”
“So a low-cost, affordable streaming service is something that didn't really exist in the market, so that's a segment of the market we're going after,” he continued noting it’s the part of the market Roku intends to stay in. “And I think it's a very large segment.”
Traction for Howdy, which was initially only available via the Roku platform through Premium Subscriptions on The Roku Channel, comes as Roku reported strong Q1 results for its larger subscriptions business– one of the company’s focus areas for accelerating platform growth.
In Q1 Roku grew platform revenue 28% year-over-year in the period to reach $1.13 billion with a gross profit margin of 51.6%. For the first time, the company broke out subscription and advertising segment revenue contributions. The first three months of 2026 marked Roku’s highest-ever quarter for Premium Subscription signups, during which the segment generated $518.5 million in revenue and grew 30% year-over-year. Excluding the Frndly vMPVD Roku acquired, subscription revenue grew 23% in Q1. Advertising revenue, meanwhile, was up 27% yoy to $612.7 million in the period.
On the earnings call, Roku CFO Dan Jedda said platform revenue in the quarter benefited from the Olympics and Super Bowl – which both streamed on NBCU’s Peacock and contributed to an increase in subscriptions and M&E spend.
According to the Q1 shareholder letter, more than half of Peacock signups on Roku in February originated from the “Roku Experience” – which combines the platform’s capabilities of content discovery, easy subscription sign-ups and targeted advertising for streaming service partners.
As for Howdy, Antenna estimates subscriber growth led the Roku-owned SVOD to account for 23% of all Roku Channel subscription signups since its launch last summer.
No pricey blockbuster originals for Howdy – yet
As for programming on the Howdy SVOD, Wood said “the content will just keep getting better” as the service gains more viewers since it will allow Roku to invest more in content.
“That is a positive cycle that we’ll just keep riding,” he commented.
At launch Howdy counted more than 10,000 hours of content from partners like Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise, as well as select Roku Originals.
Howdy’s on-demand library includes titles such as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Blind Side, Weeds, and Kids in the Hall, as well as “iconic rom-coms, medical dramas, ‘90s comedy, feel-good classics and more.”
However, while bigger-budget originals could eventually be in the cards for Howdy someday, Roku doesn’t intend to invest heavily in original content for the service.
“We don’t have plans right now for original programming” on Howdy but likely will someday, Wood said, noting originals require expensive investment.
Here the CEO made clear that by “originals” he meant a “blockbuster-type” scripted original. Howdy today does have Roku Originals, he noted, but it’s of the variety like Laguna Beach – a popular original that’s doing well on the platform but is unscripted.
“We don't have a lot of scripted content in our originals today,” he commented.” So those are going to come, I think, but that's not happening right now.”
Right now, the focus for Howdy is on improving the quality of the content, promoting it within the Roku UI and off of the Roku platform. That includes a recent launch in the Amazon Prime Video Channels store as well as expansion into Mexico, both of which “are doing really well,” Wood said.
Roku originals, programming focused on hits and habits
As mentioned, Roku is focused on growing its third-party subscription business as well as boosting advertising revenue and home screen monetization, where it aims to be a key partner to other streamers and content providers while also making its own adjacent content play.
On the subscription front, growth for Roku is coming from adding new partners, including Tier 1 players like Apple TV and Peacock Premium Plus recently.
And similar to how it views Howdy as a complementary service to major or more full-fledged streamers, it’s broader originals investment and programming strategy is, in part, about supplementing and supporting content partners and other streamers’ major releases, hits and tentpole events with related original programming and integrations within the UI.
From a Roku perspective, it’s also about investing in original content and experiences that drive daily usage and viewing on its CTV platform that now counts more than 100 million streaming households.
Or as President of Roku Media Charles Collier said they’ve been telling Upfront advertisers: “Roku has the hits and the habits.”
Originals are a targeted part of the Roku offering and still a relatively small part of the company’s overall content budget, according to Collier, but are pursued around a few pillars.
On the one hand, Roku has its own “hits”. For example, the aforementioned Laguna Beach 20th reunion special that has become the platform’s largest unscripted series ever. Then it also has content partners hits, where it helps build up excitement and related programming – including leveraging the Roku CTV user interface.
Collier used the example of when NBCUniversal’s latest Wicked feature film was released on-demand and Roku had original programming in its UI, including bringing Demi Lovato in to do a concert on a Roku City rooftop. It also programs originals around the key sports vertical, including lead-ins to major sporting events and specials, like around the World Cup tournament. It also does custom seasonal original programming, such as holiday movies with sponsors.
“We love helping our partners succeed, and then we love it when we build the original programming as well that takes advantage of that,” Collier said.
And not all Roku Originals are strictly TV or film content. On the habits and UI Originals front, the company just launched an original interactive game dubbed Roku City Dash.
Most of Roku’s investment is focused on the content and experiences that aim to encourage more regular engagement and daily habitual use of the platform from viewers, which in turn is meant to help feed the flywheel for revenue-driving parts of the business.
“So we have Originals that complement what we do very well,” he noted, adding “the majority of our spending is actually against building the habits, which is our daily reach, because we see our user or our viewer 25 days a month.”
On the back of Q1 advertising and subscription revenue gains for its platform business, Roku raised its full-year 2026 outlook. The company now expects platform revenue to grow nearly 21% yoy to $5 billion, devices revenue of approximately $535 million and total net revenue of $5.5 bilion.
The company believes it’s positioned to drive sustained double-digit platform growth and achieve $1 billion in free cash flow by 2028, if not sooner.