A few years before the pandemic, a not unusual chorus among consumers of classic cable and satellite television was: “Just give me my sports content,” a cry for pay-per-view content in which you had to access channel packages that had little to do with each other. without 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 spread out. Going back to the future, in a way, where a single place to locate your sports content probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Realizing this, Roku actively sought out sports houses to stream. 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 NFL Good Morning Football: Overtime and NFL Draft: The election is underway.
On Monday, Roku will go deeper into this with a free, ad-supported (FAST) premium channel called the Roku Sports Channel.
I spoke with Joe Franzetta, head of sports at Roku Media ahead of the Roku Sports Channel announcement, about Roku’s strategy and how they are one step ahead of other competitors given that Roku is the key operating formula platform for many TVs purchased around the world. 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 there is an integrated 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, approximately 84 million households streamed in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 2 million from the first quarter of this year and a 14% year-over-year increase. Streaming hours on Roku totaled 30. 1 billion for 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’s a wonderful addition to the platform. “It went incredibly well,” he said. He met and exceeded all our expectations. “
“We looked at how to create a destination that was as complete as possible,” Frazetta added. “Again, excerpts and highlights from every game, a new MLB quick channel, VOD content that’s on and creates that. ” “Delight an MLB fan not only when the games are live, but anytime someone needs to consume MLB content. And it turns out, from a timing standpoint, Sunday’s starter package was everything They were willing to discuss.
The Roku Sports Channel opens the door not only to what exists today, but also provides a venue for future expansion of sports properties.
“The 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 enjoying the familiar and comfortable experience that FAST offers, especially in the field of sports. Sports are one of our most popular channel genres on The Roku Channel, which we’re really excited about. Audiences will find it even less difficult to access Roku’s exceptional programming.
Roku has been very competitive when it comes to sports and 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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