Roku Inc. Strikes a Multi-Year Agreement with Google

Roku Inc. announced on Wednesday that it signed a multi-year deal with Google to retain YouTube and Youtube TV on its streaming platform.

Correspondingly, the deal will allow the 56.40 million active Roku accounts to continue to access Google services without disruption.

In line with this, shares of the digital media player company surged 18.23% or 39.48 points to $256.08 per share.

In the after-hours trading, it edged up 0.71% or 1.82 points to $257.90 per share. 

The settlement came a day before the threat of Google to pull its Youtube main application off Roku on December 9.

The months-long standoff caught the attention of Congress, which attempts to rein in the power of technology giants.

In addition, this move avoids a YouTube blackout that could pose a significant customer decline for Roku.

YouTube holds more than 2.00 billion monthly visitors, making it the most significant online video source worldwide. 

Additionally, its smaller subscription service YouTube TV is a known alternative to cable or satellite for cord-cutters. 

Meanwhile, Roku is one of the leading manufacturers of connected-TV gadgets.

However, it serves as a hardware rival to Google, which offers Google TV, Chromecast, and Android TV streaming devices. 

In the stated case, these make both companies partners and competitors in different facets of their business.

In their prior dispute, Roku demanded a percentage of advertising inventory to sell to its customers in each carriage accord. 

However, YouTube initially pushed back the firm’s demands. Subsequently, Roku asserted that Google mandated it to prefer YouTube content over other smaller providers in the search results.

Then, US Senator Amy Klobuchar supported the claims of the company. 

She further emphasized that they will draft legislation to halt the self-preferencing business practices of highly-valued tech companies. 

Roku Supports International Growth

Aside from the agreement from Google, Roku also announced that it would establish an office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, a move supporting its international growth. 

At present, the company is based in Silicon Valley, United States. Then it has chains in Denmark, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Last September, it offered its streaming players in Germany, strengthened by a strong marketing campaign of the brand. 

In addition, it also partnered with Roku TV manufacturers TCL and Hisense in the UK to manufacture TV models. 

Last 2008, Roku launched its first streaming player, enabling its users to stream Netflix to their TV.  Currently, consumers could stream thousands of free and paid channels on its platform. 

At present, its platform is available in more than 20 countries worldwide.