Roku is controlling almost 45 per cent viewing time of set-top box.
The video-on-demand streaming service, HBO Max, was introduced last week. The streaming service was launched without any integration and support from Roku. But, it is creating a lot of issues for the newly launched streaming service. The manufacturer of digital media players, Roku controls more than 44 per cent of viewing time among all existing streaming boxes. According to data presented by Conviva, the viewing time controlled by Roku is almost double to that of Amazon Fire TV. Amazon Fire TV dominates nearly 19 per cent of the viewing time and considered as the biggest competitor of Roku. Also, according to some official reports from the company, Roku has witnessed an enormous demand in its viewing time which is about 50 per cent over the year.
Meanwhile, several streaming services and companies like Amazon Fire and Roku, which provide supporting devices to watch content on TV are witnessing a massive surge in their demand. The increasing demand for such services can be attributed to the ongoing health emergency all across the globe. The people are forced to stay at their homes, and most of the people are spending their time watching content on streaming services through connected devices. According to the latest report presented by Nielson in March, it has been revealed that almost 76 per cent of homes in the USA have taken at least one device to connect to streaming services. Moreover, until March 30, the total hours’ people spent watching streaming devices were stood at 81 per cent, which was much more than the time spent over the years. It revealed that the people consumed almost 4 billion hours spent watching every content. However, the things are coming to a slow down still according to the chart presented by Nielson, the use of streaming boxes are witnessing a considerable demand by the users.
At the time when the devices supporting streaming services are witnessing huge demand, HBO Max is not supported by Roku, which has been proved to be a big problem for the service. HBO Max owned by WarnerMedia is well aware of the fact that the service will get much more benefits, if they get supported by Roku. The chief of HBO Max, Tony Goncalves, said in an interview that it is very much crucial for the streaming services to be supported by Roku to reach the new networks. Also, Goncalves said that he is hopeful that HBO Max will soon be integrated with Roku. It will help the streaming service to get subscribers in huge numbers as was seemed in the case of Disney plus. Disney plus reached a vast 26.5 million users in the fourth quarter after its integration with Roku. The fact was also revealed by the CEO of Roku, Anthony Wood, who termed the integration of Disney Plus with Roku as the most significant thing.
Support and Integration of Roku is Viable for HBO Max to Give Competition to Disney Plus
There are several reasons why HBO Max is not integrated with Roku. The first reason is the considerable subscription fee that Roku will likely to take. Also, WarnerMedia previously made some agreements with Roku related to the distribution of the streaming service. Currently, subscribers can watch HBO on Roku but then what will happen with the millions of users who are giving fee for HBO on Roku but not getting HBO Max. WarnerMedia restricted the streaming of HBO from different channels of Apple TV when it signed a deal with Apple TV to support HBO Max. After the agreement, only those subscribers who were subscribed through channels of Apple TV can get the HBO Max as the free app.
It seems that WarnerMedia wants to repeat the same thing and will remove HBO from the channels of Roku when it starts supporting HBO Max. However, according to general manager and vice president of direct to consumer products of WarnerMedia, Andy Forssell, the company is all set to make HBO Max available on all platforms so it can get a large number of users. It has designed the apps that can be supported and integrated with both Amazon and Roku are only waiting to sign the agreements.
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