"Netflix lost subscribers in the United States for the first time in nearly a decade. Netflix reported 126,000 fewer U.S. subscribers at the end of June compared to March. The last time the company lost subscribers was in the fourth quarter of 2011.
"Although, Netflix gained 2.8 million international subscribers in the second quarter ending June 30, it was the worst quarter in terms of international additions that Netflix has posted in four years. Netflix is orchestrating a costly global expansion by producing local content for multiple markets…
I have a small to medium position in Roku largely because so many people I trust like it (nothing to do with this board…)
The reason I’m not super-duper confident is the CEO’s first company has been referred to as “almost Tivo”. Not an flawless track record. Also so many bad glass door reviews (often critical of clueless upper management.) And…CEO is just not an inspiring guy (to my eye). However, it is the level of adoption, and the platform of platform idea, that gives me enough confidence to continue to own small to medium position.
re the above article: It does seem that people who stop paying for Netflix will still send some money, mostly indirectly, to Roku, which keeps me hanging on. I can certainly see how Roku could end up ever more widely used…
No offense, but not everyone will subscribe to NFLX… that was not what I said/inferred. However, nearly all Roku units have a preprogrammed remote button for Netflix. More Roku units will bring more NFLX subscribers… that’s basic.
🆁🅶🅱 If all my days were hills to climb and circles without reason If all I was, was passing time, my life was just a season
More Roku units will bring more NFLX subscribers… that’s basic.
I think you are trying to make a bigger connection to the two than may exist. The coefficient of correlation isn’t necessarily very high.
I’ve searched for supporting data but can’t find any that indicates one way or another. I also looked to see Rokus impact on other streaming services and could not find that data either.
With the recent drop in Netflix subscribers, it is entirely possible that more Roku might actually be negatively correlated with Netflix subscribers as Roku provides a single portal to all other streaming (both free and paid) services.
'Sides, with smart tvs these days, who needs Roku to access Netflix? The two tvs I purchased nearly 3 years ago came with Netflix soft installed.
The two tvs I purchased nearly 3 years ago came with Netflix soft installed.
My (Comcast/xFinity) cable box has Netflix and Amazon (and HBO & such on demand) streaming built in. If I didn’t already have a ROKU I might not bother to buy one.
As the streaming offerings continue to fragment (examples: “The Office” and “Friends” migrating off of Netflix), I can see the fragmentation working to Roku’s advantage.
Next, people are going to be reluctant to paying $10 per month to five different services to watch the shows they wish to view.
Inevitably a service offering would rise up that gives you all the shows if you’re willing to watch advertisements. Only so many people are willing to pay subscription fees for more than two services. Wouldn’t that be big for TTD?
ROKU is working towards becoming the standard OS for SmartTVs, such that, no matter if Disney, Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, CBS, SlingTV, HBONow, etc, when they build their platform, ROKU is the OS they code to.
ROKU then benefits by serving as the platform, and also, understanding the user interactions in the device, the data, etc, across systems, while offering their own channel.
This is completely anecdotal but I recently replaced my Roku stick with an Amazon Fire stick, the Roku was starting to act up, and I have to say the Amazon Fire unit is a far superior experience to the Roku. Especially if you have any additional Amazon Echo devices in your house. That being said, Roku does have a large installed user base and licensing deals with many TV manufacturers so this doesn’t mean that they won’t succeed. Just compare it to the VHS vs. Beta battle, Beta was the better technology but the larger install base of VHS units won the day.
Even if one knows all these things, or mostly knows them, it’s still always good to see them articulated in different ways. I really appreciate all the replies, thank you.
As I read the replies I started to imagine the CEO of ROKU coming up to me at some kind of party or something, and asking for 3 or 4% of my investable money, to put in his company. And then I imagined all the CEOs of all the other companies I own standing behind him in a queue, sort of saying, “No, no, no, please just put a little more in mine.”
I think I’m going to be very Saul-ish with ROKU. Keep an eagle eye on it, and run at the first sign of trouble. I just can’t get the image of the CEO out of my head.
I have struggled to get excited about Roku as an investment. Look at the competition…apple, google, amazon. That is a terrifying list of competitors. Frankly, I’m impressed they did as well as they have.
On prime day, I ended up getting a Fire Stick for $15. 15! It was on sale for 25 and I had an unexpected $10 prime day gift from buying some produce at Whole Foods that day.
How do you make money when you make a complicated contraption and your better financed, more vertically integrated with a whole ecosystem, stronger branded competitor, sells their product for almost nothing?
How do you make money when you make a complicated contraption and your better financed, more vertically integrated with a whole ecosystem, stronger branded competitor, sells their product for almost nothing?
The hardware is not what the Roku investment thesis is about.
I’m not, and have never been a ROKU investor, so I won’t elaborate (because I’m not qualified to), but I remember reading some pretty good write ups on this board explaining it if you search for it.
I don’t think people realize Roku hardware is on the way out and the operating system that comes preinatalled on new smart TVs (which the manufacturer pays a small price to Roku for this so it’s essentially free to the consumer. Roku is not trying to sell a product competing with free) is the source of their growth. And Roku is the operating system on 1/3 of all smart TVs sold today. That number has been steadily growing.
It’s growing much faster than Apple TV as well as amazon fire, which is be surprised if one retailer out there other than amazon would ever carry.
Increased Roku units will ultimately lead to new NFLX streamers… yes?
What if it works the other way (some percentage of the time)?
i.e. someone wants to get Netflix and they find out that getting a Roku device is a simple way to do it.
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Amazon will no longer be supporting the Prime Video app on your Roku XR streaming player as of September 26, 2019. We are continually upgrading our service and this occasionally means we can no longer support certain device models.
To help you to continue streaming your favorite content, we’re offering you a $25 credit towards select Fire TV devices which will allow you to continue to stream your favorites from Prime Video. To redeem, add a Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, or Fire TV Cube to your cart and enter the below promo code at checkout. This offer ends on November 1, 2019.
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Looks like it affects the Roku XR streaming player only. So far…
this occasionally means we can no longer support certain device models.
Is that the Roku XR thats close to 10 years old? If so I’d suspect that’s the reason why support is dropping more so than Amazon backing away from Roku.