Roku growth soars to 51 million users as Q4 viewing tops 17 billion hours

Streaming device maker and AVOD operator Roku has announced its latest milestone of 50 million monthly active users.

The company said it ended 2020 with 51.2 million active accounts, up by approximately 14 million in 2020 and an increase from its previous record of 46 million users announced in November.

Those 50 million-plus users are also highly engaged on the platform, with the company also announcing an estimated 17 billion streaming hours in the quarter and a total of 58.7 billion hours in 2020. This represents an increase of 55% year-over-year for the quarter and the full year.

Roku, arguably the biggest streaming device maker in the US, was buoyed towards the end of 2020 as it finally wrapped up deals with NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia to carry their respective streaming services Peacock and HBO Max.

However, it is Roku’s own AVOD service that the company will look to push the heaviest in the coming months and years.

The company invested heavily in launching new content to The Roku Channel and it could gain further mainstream attention should it be successful in its reported bid to acquire the content of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s short-lived Quibi.

Roku will announce its final operating metrics for 2020 in February, when it declares its year-end financial report.

Anthony Wood, Roku CEO, said: “The world is moving to streaming and we look forward to continuing to help viewers, advertisers, content publishers, and TV manufacturers succeed in the streaming decade.”