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ROKU's Active Accounts Hit 51.2 Million on Cord-Cutting

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Roku (ROKU - Free Report) has been one of the top-performing Zacks Consumer Discretionary stocks in 2020 thanks to solid demand for its devices, backed by an expanding lineup of streaming products and content partnerships. Roku shares have returned 154.7% in the past year.

Active accounts have been growing, which Roku now estimates to have hit 51.2 million in the fourth quarter ending Dec 31, 2020, meaning it added 14 million accounts in the full year.

Moreover, Roku estimates viewers to have streamed 17 billion hours in the fourth quarter and 58.7 billion hours in 2020, up 55% year over year for both the quarter and the full year.

The solid growth in active accounts and streaming hours reflects increasing cord cutting by U.S. households. Per eMarketer projections, 31.2 million U.S. households are estimated to have cut their cable TV cord by the end of 2020.

Although the increasing cord-cutting projections do not bode well for pay-TV providers like Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) and AT&T (T - Free Report) , Roku stands to benefit from partnership deals it has struck with them for their respective streaming services.

In mid-December last year, Roku struck a deal with AT&T owned WarnerMedia to give Roku users access to HBO Max streaming service. In September, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company struck a deal with Comcast owned NBCUniveral for Peacock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
 

Roku, Inc. Price and Consensus

Roku, Inc. Price and Consensus

Roku, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Roku, Inc. Quote

 

Markedly, Roku and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) together control about 70% of the U.S. streaming-device market, limiting the growth of any video apps that are not available on their distribution platforms.

Can Roku Sustain Momentum in 2021?

Apart from solid device sales, Roku is expected to benefit from surge in The Roku Channel premium signups in 2021. Markedly, in fourth-quarter 2020, The Roku Channel reached an estimated 61.8 million people, doubling year over year.

Additionally, the Roku Channel has been expanding its free live and linear channel lineup in the United States with new channels. These include VENN, Cinedigm’s Bloody Disgusting TV, the Craftistry from Studio71, Circle, HappyKids.tv, Hi-Yah! – The Martial Arts Channel, iFood.tv, the Lego Channel, Maverick Black Cinema, MovieSphere, Skills + Thrills, and WeatherSpy.

Moreover, streaming hours’ growth is likely to boost TV streaming advertising on Roku’s platform, driving advertising revenues in the near term.

The addition of HBO Max on Roku players will bring 17 brand-new movies to the service, which includes films like Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune, Matrix 4 and the next installment of Suicide Squad.

Moreover, increasing rate of cord cutting due to high-priced Pay-TV services will continue to drive Roku’s growth. Per eMarketer estimates, by 2024, more than one-third of U.S. households will have cut the pay TV cord.

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