*By Britt Terrell*
Roku, the leading provider of over-the-top hardware, has shifted its focus from selling TV boxes to providing access to streaming content through its platform on others' devices.
The company is happy to trade the margins it makes on selling OTT hardware for growing its users, said Steve Louden, Roku's chief financial officer.
"We focus on two things: driving active account growth ー that's the scale of the platform ー and then monetizing the platform," Louden said in an interview Wednesday with Cheddar. "Players are important to us, but they are just one of three ways we grow active accounts," he added.
Roku sells players to plug into TVs; it licenses its platform to TV manufacturers, and licenses its operating system to streaming and telecommunications companies like Sky in Britain and Telstra in Australia.
Hardware sales are becoming less important to the company's bottom line, Louden said, and focus has shifted to its platform business, which has more potential users. The company has 21 million active users, most of them in the U.S., and the company is looking to grow internationally. It's already in 23 countries.
"Roku historically has been primarily focused on being and maintaining our leadership position as the number one streaming platform in the U.S.," Louden said. "But increasingly we are looking to the international markets as well."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/roku-cfo-talks-stock-performance-and-national-streaming-day).
Facebook parent Meta reported disappointing results in its first quarterly earnings report since rebranding to focus on the metaverse. The tech giant delivered mixed results with quarterly profit falling well below Wall Street expectations. Shares plunged more than 20 percent in after hours trading as a result. Martin Garner, COO of CCS Insight, joined Cheddar Movers to break down the company's results.
Super Group, the company behind leading global online sports betting and gaming businesses Betway and Spin, has landed on Wall Street. The company went public via SPAC with Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp., and now lists on the NYSE under the ticker symbol 'SGHC.' This debut comes as the U.S. sports betting market continues to heat up with more and more states legalizing the practice. Eric Grubman, chairman of Super Group, joined Cheddar to discuss.
Miami wants to be the crypto capital of the world. Mayor Francis Suarez has gone all in on the blockchain, even accepting one of his first paychecks in Bitcoin, hosting one of the world's largest digital cryptocurrency conferences, and marketing Miami as a great place for tech experts to work. Maja Vujinovic, managing director of OGroupLLC, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to discuss Miami's enthusiasm toward crypto, some of the potential risks that entails, and where the city might be heading when it comes to the crypto takeover.
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
James Vlahos, Co-Founder and CEO of HereAfter AI, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed.
