Roku saw platform revenue, a segment of the business that includes advertising, rise 18% year over year to a record $1.22 billion in Q4, according to an earnings statement. Platform revenue grew at the same rate for the full year 2025, to $4.15 billion, driven by momentum in video advertising and streaming distribution. Roku claims its video advertising gains outpaced the broader over-the-top and digital ad markets in the U.S. last year, citing Standard Media Index data.
“There’s still a lot of ad dollars that is in the traditional linear ecosystem that’s still moving to streaming,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood on a call discussing the results with investors. “We’re taking, I would say, more than our fair share of those dollars.”
Roku, which acts as a media distributor and also operates its own streaming services, including the ad-supported Roku Channel, is the No.1 streaming TV platform in the U.S., Canada and Mexico based on hours streamed, per the Hypothesis Group findings cited in the release. Roku’s advertising has been supported by scaling its self-service Ads Manager targeted at small- and mid-sized businesses. LolaVie, the hair care brand owned by Jennifer Aniston, recently used Roku Ads Manager for its first TV campaign and saw a 40% lift in sales, according to Roku.
SMBs were estimated to spend as much as $640 billion on advertising last year, per an Intuit report, underpinning the size of the market opportunity. Roku pointed to generative artificial intelligence tools and partnerships like one with Spaceback, which converts social video into TV ads, as accelerants for Ads Manager’s growth.
“AI is opening the entire new market of small and medium-sized businesses, which we’re addressing with Ads Manager,” said Wood. “I mean, that’s an entire new segment in the ad business that was not accessible to TV platforms before but is now because of AI.”
Roku also worked to build out its ad-tech relationships last year, including through a major deal with Amazon Ads that aims to provide the largest authenticated connected TV audience footprint in the U.S. Asked about the Amazon pact, Roku executives said it is still “early innings” but a key piece of a larger strategy to enhance marketing performance and improve industry operability through partnerships. Roku also works with Yahoo DSP, The Trade Desk, AppLovin, Wurl and Magnite on the advertising front.
“Specific to Amazon, as the Amazon DSP grows and becomes — and is successful, which we think it will be — we’ll be successful along with it,” said Roku CFO and Chief Operating Officer Dan Jedda.
