Roku (ROKU) Bank of America 2025 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference summary

Business performance and monetization strategy

• Achieved high teens organic platform revenue growth in 3Q and mid to high teens in 4Q, driven by a pivot to monetization after building scale and engagement.

• Over half of U.S. broadband households use the platform, with more streaming hours than all linear TV combined and over a fifth of all TV viewing on the platform.

• Monetization initiatives include integrating with all major demand-side and supply-side platforms, and launching innovative ad products across the CPM demand curve.

• Focused on monetizing the home screen, left navigation, and new ad units like video in the Marquee, leveraging control over the user interface.

• Platform segment now makes up 90% of revenues, with engagement and reach continuing to grow rapidly.

Advertising and programmatic growth

• Shift from brand to performance-based advertising is accelerating, with over 50% of ad business now programmatic and a target of 75%.

• Integrated with all major DSPs, including The Trade Desk, Amazon, DV360, AppLovin, and Yahoo, with ongoing efforts to deepen these integrations for higher fill rates.

• Programmatic pipes are performance-driven, with first-party data and constant iteration to improve auction outcomes.

• Upfronts business remains strong, with guaranteed rates and impressions still important.

Self-serve and SMB market expansion

• Launched self-serve CTV ad platform (Ads Manager) targeting SMBs, enabling quick, geo-targeted video campaigns with GenAI creative tools.

• SMBs can now access CTV advertising easily, opening a new incremental market on top of the existing $90B CTV market.

• Expect self-serve to become a double-digit percent share of the performance market over time, with marketing and product simplicity as key drivers.