Roku is launching an ad-free, subscription streaming service.
The service, called Howdy, offers a lower price point than most ad-free streaming services, at $2.99 a month, and launches with a library of close to 10,000 hours of entertainment from partners including Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery and FilmRise, in addition to select Roku Original titles. Initial titles in the library include Mad Max: Fury Road, The Blind Side, Weeds and Kids in the Hall, among others.
Howdy is set to launch Tuesday in the U.S. This joins the company’s Roku Channel, which includes ads on a large library of content, as well as Roku Originals, and was the most popular FAST service in June, according to the Nielsen Gauge. The launch of the platform also follows Roku’s acquisition of paid streaming service Frndly TV in May. Roku has a large potential reach for these services, after hitting 90 million households earlier this year.
“Priced at less than a cup of coffee, Howdy is ad-free and designed to complement, not compete with, premium services,” said Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood. “We’re meeting a real need for consumers who want to unwind with their favorite movies and shows uninterrupted and on their terms. Howdy is a natural step for us at Roku, extending our mission to make better TV for everyone, by making it affordable, accessible, and built for how people watch today.”
“We’re excited to continue our longstanding collaboration with Roku on innovative ways to connect with audiences,” said Jim Packer, president of Worldwide Television Distribution, Lionsgate. “With engagement of over 125 million people a day, Roku is the perfect partner to launch a more accessible complement to the higher-priced SVODs. This service has the ability to scale quickly while providing us with a new way to monetize our content, and we’re proud to be part of this new streaming experience.”
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