Millions of Americans Streamed Election News for Free on the Roku Platform Breaking TV Streaming Records; Likely Voters Cut the Cord and Embraced AVOD

Rhea-AI Summary

Roku, Inc. released new data highlighting a surge in election-related news streaming on its platform following the 2020 U.S. elections. A Harris Poll survey revealed that over 83% of likely voters were streamers, with streaming increasing by 499% compared to 2016. On Election Day, an estimated 12 million viewers streamed news for free, primarily on The Roku Channel. The findings indicate a significant shift from traditional pay TV to streaming, with 45% of voters planning to cut the cord. This trend underscores the changing landscape of news consumption and advertising strategies.

Positive

• Streaming of election news surged on Roku, with 12 million viewers on Election Day.
• Total streaming hours on The Roku Channel increased by over 500% on Election Day.

Negative

• Linear TV viewership dropped by 35% on Election Day compared to 2016.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, Roku, Inc. (Nasdaq:ROKU) today released new data detailing the significant growth in consumption of election-related news via streaming on the Roku® platform. The analysis coincides with newly released data from a nationwide survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, conducted by The Harris Poll for Roku prior to the November elections, which found that more than 8 out of 10 (83%) surveyed likely voters reported being streamers. News viewership and streaming adoption trends help to shed new light on the evolving patterns of an electorate that drove the largest voter turnout in American history.

With most voters leaning into connected television viewing, streaming of U.S. election news surged across the Roku platform during the traditional peak of the campaign season from the 2020 national conventions in August on through to Election Day. According to a viewership analysis, Roku households with an estimated 20 million people streamed election news across the platform’s multiple free, advertising-supported news channels, including directly on The Roku Channel. The analysis covered viewership of the DNC and RNC conventions, both presidential debates and two townhalls, the vice presidential debate and Election Day coverage.

“TV streaming democratizes access to content and nowhere have we seen this trend come into play more than with the ability for millions of Americans to access free news at their convenience via their streaming platform,” said Ashley Hovey, Director of AVOD for Roku. “This election season, households with tens of millions of people were able to stream live news from some of the world’s most respected media outlets, including ABC and NBC News, for free on the Roku platform.”

On Election Day in particular, homes including an estimated 12 million viewers streamed their news on the Roku platform for free. More than half of those streaming news on the Roku platform on Election Day tuned directly to The Roku Channel for its broad selection of free live news offerings from partners including ABC News Live, NBC News Now, Cheddar, and the Spanish language América Tevé. Total streaming hours of The Roku Channel’s live linear programming increased more than 500% on Election Day compared to the prior day, breaking all previous single day records for live linear streaming hours on the Roku platform.

The majority of the households that streamed news across the Roku platform also skewed younger with nearly two-thirds (62%), including people in the coveted 18-49 year-old advertising demographic.

This data mirrors the broader election year trend reported by Nielsen, which found a significant change in how Americans consumed Election Day news in 2020. According to Nielsen, linear viewership dropped 35% on Election Day compared to 2016, while streaming increased by 499%.

“The desire to access live and breaking news is no longer holding audiences to traditional pay TV the way it once did,” added Hovey. “Millions of Americans have now discovered new ways to access quality news programming for free, which we believe will only further the migration towards a streaming-first television world”.

The election data comes on the heels of a Harris Poll survey of likely voters which found that while Americans don’t agree on many things, the one thing that brings Republican, Democrat and Independent voters together is their preference for streaming. Adults from all three political affiliations reported spending nearly twice as much time streaming TV as they did watching traditional pay TV. And for many, they are watching no traditional TV at all. The survey found that 45% of both Democrats and Republicans (and 44% of all likely voters) have either cut the cord or plan to in the year ahead. Independents are leading the charge away from linear television with more than half reporting that they have either already cut the cord or they are planning to this year.

Looking ahead to the State of Georgia run-off elections in January, 1 out of 5 Georgian voters surveyed by The Harris Poll reported being unreachable on linear television today because of cord cutting, with another 24% saying they plan to cut the cord in the coming months. The implications for political campaigns, and marketers more broadly, seeking to reach targeted audiences is clear.

“Streaming is fundamentally altering many of the norms advertisers have come to expect the past few decades,” said Alison Levin, VP of Global Ad Revenue and Marketing Solutions. “The 2020 elections highlighted the broad implications of the move to a streaming-first world, where in the not-too-distant future, the majority of voters – and for that matter the majority of consumers – will no longer be reachable on traditional pay TV. Campaigns have adapted to the technology and trend shifts just as major brands have done with the 2020 election season, signaling a real shift by advertisers to embracing the full funnel capabilities of streaming advertising.”

About Roku, Inc.

Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. We connect users to the streaming content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique capabilities to engage consumers. Roku streaming players and TV-related audio devices are available in the U.S. and in select countries through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements with service operators. Roku TV™ models are available in the U.S. and in select countries through licensing arrangements with TV brands. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. U.S.A.

This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us on the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements include but are not limited to those related to the shift from traditional linear TV to streaming; the patterns and trends related to voters’ consumption of news coverage; trends relating to cord cutting; and the benefits, features, and reach of the The Roku Channel and the Roku platform. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are detailed from time to time in the reports Roku, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on Roku’s website and are available from Roku without charge.

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