Roku's quarterly revenue beats estimates on ad strength

By Akash Sriram and Harshita Mary Varghese

(Reuters) -Roku beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue and posted smaller-than-expected loss on Thursday, benefiting from strong ad sales and the ongoing shift from cable TV to streaming platforms.

Shares of the firm rose 5.2% in trading after the bell.

The company, which makes streaming devices and owns a complimentary, ad-supported channel, has experienced a surge in viewership as industry titans such as Netflix raise subscription fees while high interest rates squeeze consumer wallets.

"The Roku home screen reaches U.S. households with more than 120 million people every day. This massive reach is highly valued by advertisers," Roku said in a letter to shareholders.

The ongoing migration from traditional cable packages to subscription-based streaming services has also helped the company, alongside the burgeoning popularity of third-party streaming channels such as Peacock, Disney+, and HBO Max, all accessible through Roku's platform.

"Roku will continue to benefit from streaming subscriber growth through its platform. Our experts estimate that Roku gets a 20%-40% cut of subscription fees from streamers," said Jamie Lumley, analyst at Third Bridge.

Its platform revenue, the biggest contributor to income, grew about 11% to $824.3 million in the quarter ended June 30.

That helped the company post a 14% rise in net revenue to $968.2 million, beating analysts' average estimate of $937.9 million, according to LSEG data.

Revenue generated from distributing and promoting streaming services on Roku's platform grew faster than overall platform revenue primarily due to price increases for subscription-based apps, the company said.

The company posted a loss of 24 cents per share, compared with expectations for a loss of 43 cents.

Roku ended the second quarter with 83.6 million "streaming households", or active accounts, a net increase of 2 million from the previous quarter.

It expects revenue of $1.01 billion for the third quarter, in line with expectations.

Operating expenses for the second quarter fell about 2% to $495.9 million.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)