SARATOGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It was six years ago today when a small team at Roku® Inc. unveiled the streaming player, the very first device to stream Netflix to the TV. The innovation of delivering video over the Internet straight to the big screen in the living room shifted entertainment consumption and sparked a major consumer trend. In honor of the anniversary and the impact Roku has had on TV, Saratoga Mayor Emily Lo will today bestow the proclamation of “Streaming Day” at the Roku headquarters. As part of the commencement Roku invites TV industry and consumers to forever celebrate May 20 as National Streaming Day #nationalstreamingday.
Roku Founder and CEO Anthony Wood reflected on the anniversary as he looks ahead to the future of TV. “We’re so proud to be the platform that introduced streaming entertainment to the living room. The innovations that grew out of that introduction have shaped where TV is today. Consumers now benefit from more entertainment choice than ever before while content creators of all sizes reap the benefits of being able to bring their entertainment to the TV using the open Internet. We’ve always believed that all TV will be streamed and today we are thousands of channels and billions of streaming hours closer to the goal.”
Notable milestones that streaming to the TV has inspired:
- Now 42 million households have a TV connected to the Internet1
- “Binging” and “spoiler alert” are established words in the TV viewing vernacular
- Original series created just for streaming paved the way for a new model of production and distribution with full series releases, and created Emmy award-winning programs along the way
- Favorite TV shows from the past including Veronica Mars, Arrested Development and 24 now get a second life in the new TV economy
- TV is more popular than ever with heavy streamers watching an average of seven hours per day2
During this new era of TV consumers enjoy on-demand entertainment like never before. As content creators have embraced the power of the Internet to stream to the TV they have emerged in several new categories. While movies and TV shows are widely popular categories, consumers also enjoy music, sports, news and weather, fitness and outdoors, science and tech, food, kids and family, travel, foreign language and religion and spirituality options. Yet more even notable is that streaming has enabled new channels – TED, The Autism Channel, Kaplan Prep, DogTV Anywhere and others – that would have never otherwise had a path to the TV. Roku anticipates that the pace of streaming entertainment available for the TV will continue to rapidly increase in the coming years to the point where all TV will be streamed. Roku alone publishes roughly 90 channels per month to its platform.
In celebration of National Streaming Day consumers are encouraged to stream at least 60 minutes of their favorite entertainment today and share their selection using hashtag #nationalstreamingday. Streaming TV fans can also visit Roku’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/Roku for fun facts and a chance to win prizes. Those who don’t yet have a Roku player can buy one today and receive a $10 rebate by visiting www.roku.com/nationalstreamingday.
About Roku, Inc.
Roku is the creator of the most popular streaming platform for delivering video, music and casual games to the TV. The Roku platform features the largest collection of entertainment available for streaming to the TV and is accessible through Roku streaming players, the Roku Streaming Stick, Roku Ready devices and later this year on Roku TVs. Roku products are sold in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. Roku was founded by Anthony Wood, inventor of the DVR. Roku is privately held and headquartered in Saratoga, Calif., U.S.
Roku and Roku Ready are registered trademarks and Streaming Stick is a trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries.
1 NPD Connected Home Report
2 Roku data