The Roku Channel is lining up promotions and partners for its new Winter Content Hub that coincides with the debut of its first original film, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas.”
Starting today, the company’s free, ad-supported streaming and subscription channels service will feature curated collections movies, TV shows, live TV channels and kids and family entertainment along with partnerships with iHeartRadio, Vevo and others for free holiday music in the U.S.
Starting December 27, Roku is also queuing up a New Year’s experience across its platform that will show users a 2022 countdown clock, themes and New Year’s Eve screensaver, daily product giveaways and trivia, 99¢ premium subscription offers on The Roku Channel and free New Year’s Eve-related content on The Roku Channel.
RELATED: Roku active account growth slows under TV supply chain pressure
The company is also planning “The Year in Streaming,” a special episode of its weekly entertainment show, Roku Recommends. It will be hosted by Maria Menounos and Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins and will unveil the top 10 shows of 2021 alongside appearances from Liza Katzer and Jamie Lee (producers of “Ted Lasso”), Amy Ryan (“Only Murders in the Building”), O-T Fagbenle (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Chrishell Stause (“Selling Sunset”), Karamo Brown (“Queer Eye”) and Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”).
The splashy debut for The Roku Channel’s new original film and other content comes as the company reportedly looks to spend a lot more on originals to set itself apart in a competitive AVOD/FAST industry. According to CNBC, Roku plans to spend more than $1 billion on content in 2022.
Roku CEO Anthony Wood declined to confirm his company’s projected content budget but did tell the publication that his company’s content spending will keep going up on an annual basis. He said that Roku’s content spending isn’t about competing with Netflix and other SVOD players, but rather it’s about driving more advertising interest and revenue.
“We have less expensive content than a subscription service because it’s not required for us to be successful,” Wood told CNBC. “For us, it’s about helping users discover content that appeals to them.”
Roku ended the third quarter with 56.4 million active users after adding 1.3 million, compared to 2.9 million in the year-ago quarter.