Business

What is Roku? The streaming device company explained.

Published

3 years ago

October 30, 2021

Editor

In a world where streaming is often the easiest way to find your favorite films and TV shows, as well as discover new ones, you need hardware to make it happen. That’s where Roku comes in.

Apps like Netflix and Hulu house some of the most popular streaming content around, but you can’t just watch it on anything. If you’re looking for a way to stream, you’ve probably stumbled onto the Roku name before and wondered: What the heck is this, anyway? Allow us to help.

What is Roku?

Roku’s signature remote design.
Credit: Tiffany Hagler-Geard / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Put simply, Roku is a company that makes little devices that exist pretty much for the sole purpose of streaming video. They’ve been at it since 2008, gobbling up huge amounts of the streaming hardware market to become the most popular brand in the business. Roku’s devices have simple remotes and user interfaces that even the most tech-averse can learn to use, which certainly doesn’t hurt their popularity.

In recent years, Roku has also started producing original content of its own through the Roku Originals brand. Roku Originals is where all that sweet Quibi content went after that notoriously short-lived streaming service died in 2020. So, in summary, Roku makes devices for watching stuff and also occasionally makes stuff to watch on said devices.

What devices does Roku make?

Roku Express is one of the cheaper models.
Credit: mashable composite

Every piece of Roku hardware is mostly a platform for streaming from apps like HBO Max and Disney+, but they’re not all the same. In fact, some of them have broad utilities outside of streaming. All these devices range from the very cheap to the less-cheap-but-still-not-that-expensive:

Roku Express 4K+ ($40), an inexpensive little 4K streamer that’s great for first-time 4K TV owners.
Roku Ultra ($100), the most expensive streamer in the lineup with more processing power than the rest.
Roku Streambar ($130) and Streambar Pro ($180), a couple of soundbars (basically long speakers for your TV) that also have streaming hardware to kill two birds with one stone.

So whether you just need a tiny dongle to play 4K content or a big soundbar to enhance your TV audio setup, Roku probably has something for you. At least a couple of these products get refreshed every year, so new features are constantly on the way.

What apps does Roku have?

Yep, Roku’s got Netflix.
Credit: Netflix

The short answer is “everything.” The longer answer is “everything, unless there’s a business dispute.” HBO Max was pulled from Roku devices in 2020 (it’s available now) and Google is currently fighting with Roku over YouTube.

But for the most part, Roku’s app selection is robust and reliable. All the big names including Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Paramount+, and beyond are generally available on Roku’s app store. There are also some neat bonuses like Spotify for listening to music and AirPlay for blasting your iPhone display to your TV. And finally, the Roku Channel is a built-in app with a growing list of free live TV channels that are mostly really weird and funny.

It’s that simple, folks. If you need a box for watching Netflix and don’t want to think too much about it, Roku might be the way to go. Just don’t forget that you also need to pay for access to all of those apps, too.