A few years before the pandemic, a not unusual chorus among consumers of classic cable and satellite TV was, “Just give me my sports content,” a cry for pay-per-view content that had to access packages of channels that had little to do with it. No interest. added to the total cable bill. As time went on and streaming invaded the media landscape, many of those same consumers lamented that localizing their sports content was too dispersed. Going back to the future, in a way, where a single place to locate your sports content would possibly not be a bad idea.
Realizing this, Roku has been actively researching sports houses to stream. By signing their first live sports deal with Formula E in 2023, they have been a heavyweight in localizing sports content, whether it’s Major League Baseball games with MLB Sunday Leadoff, The Rich. Eisen Show, Boxing, or Roku Originals produced through the corresponding sports leagues, such as the NFL’s Good Morning Football: Overtime and NFL Draft: Pick Is Made.
On Monday, Roku will take it a step further with a free, ad-supported (FAST) premium channel called the Roku Sports Channel.
I spoke with Joe Franzetta, Roku Media’s director of sports ahead of the Roku Sports Channel announcement, about Roku’s strategy and how they’re one step ahead of other competitors given that Roku is the key operating formula platform for many TVs purchased around the world. .
“What we’re doing is creating experience on the platform,” Frazetta said. “We work with our partners to absorb all the content, whether it’s live or on-demand, curate it, and make sure that all the metadata design is there to make it easy to find on our platform. They do the production. We use every feature we have to make them available to other people and make them easy to find. That’s why we work a lot with our partners in this organization. look and feel to create the platform that delights you.
Roku’s built-in platform in the TVs sold means a built-in audience. In addition to the streaming apps that consumers download, the main interface has space to promote content.
According to Roku’s most recent financial report, in the second quarter of 2024 approximately 84 million families streamed, an increase of 2 million from the first quarter of this year and a year-over-year increase of 14%. Streaming hours on Roku totaled 30. 1 billion by Q24, a massive accumulation.
Frazetta describes Roku as an “introductory TV” — the first interface users see before making selections.
Roku’s MLB Zone enthusiasts can locate games in one undeniable interface.
When asked about the deal with Major League Baseball, Franzetta said it was a wonderful addition to the platform. “It went incredibly well,” he said. “He met and exceeded all of our expectations. ”
“We are looking at how to create a destination that is as complete as possible,” added Frazetta. “Once again, clips and highlights from each and every game, a new MLB fast channel, VOD. content that is on and creates that “on” delight for an MLB fan not only when games are live, but also whenever someone needs to consume MLB content. And it turns out that, as far as timelines go, Sunday’s initial package was all they were willing to discuss.
The Roku Sports channel opens the door to not only what currently exists, but also provides a venue for future expansion of sports properties.
“Roku Sports Channel, a permanently curated channel that guides our audience through the wide variety of premium sports content available on The Roku Channel, is an exciting addition to our expanding sports offering,” Franzetta said in an announcement on the new 24/7 channel. “We continue to see audiences enjoy the familiar and comfortable experience that FAST offers, especially in the sports space. Sports is one of our most popular channel genres on The Roku Channel, which we are excited about Audiences will have even less difficulty accessing Roku’s exceptional programming.
Roku has been very competitive when it comes to sports and it stops.
“We’re going to continue growing,” Franzetta told me. We’ve had a lot of good luck in a short period of time. I think it’s because of the team that we have, the platform itself, the ability of the platform to host and host the reports that we’ve created. the content aggregation strategy. I think we’ll continue to think about how we approach the expansion of the company. So when you look at our overall sports strategy, it continues to revolve around the concept of creating a transparent destination and locating all sports. want.
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