Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorStreaming platform Roku saw revenue and user growth cool down in the first three months of 2022, as the company missed Wall Street expectations on the bottom line.The company reported 61.3 million active accounts for the first quarter, up 14% year over year and a sequential gain of 1.1 million.
That’s compared with 35% account growth in Q1 2021, when it netted 2.4 million accounts. Total hours streamed by Roku users in Q1 was 20.9 billion, also up 14%, versus a 49% uptick a year earlier.Roku cited “the end of government stimulus payments that served to temporarily drive discretionary consumer spend in Q1 2021” for the slowdown in streaming accounts.Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news, and more. Total revenue was $734 million, up 28%, and Roku swung to a net loss of $26.3 million (a loss of 19 cents per share) versus net income of $75.8 million in the year-ago quarter.
On average, Wall Street analysts predicted Roku Q1 revenue reaching $718.1 million and a loss of 18 cents per share, according to financial data provider Refinitiv.Roku’s platform revenue, which encompasses advertising and content revenue-sharing deals, was $647 million in Q1, up 39% — but marking a deceleration from the pandemic-fueled 101% growth in the year-earlier period.Roku’s shares were up 5% in after-hours trading, after closing up 8.1% in the regular session.
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