• by Wayne Friedman , November 4, 2021

Roku, the streaming set-top box/platform, says its active accounts grew more slowly -- up 1.3 million to 56.4 million -- in the third quarter versus the second quarter.

“We believe the slowdown in active account growth rate this quarter was, in large part, attributable to global supply-chain disruptions that have impacted the U.S. TV market,” says the company in its earnings release.

The 1.3 million growth in subscribers was “driven by sales of our streaming players and Roku TV models.”

At the same time, Roku said its set-top-player revenue was down 14% to $97.4 million versus the second quarter of 2021, and 26% lower year-over-year.

The company said: “Our player unit costs were impacted by the supply-chain disruptions. However, we chose to insulate our consumers from these increased costs to prioritize account growth, resulting in player gross margin decreasing to 15%.”

After-market trading of Roku’s stock fell 9%.

Roku’s much bigger Platform business grew 82% versus the year before to $582.5 million.

Platform business constitutes content distribution deals, Roku program/app software consumer interface on devices such as smart TVs and other connected devices, and advertising sales.

The company says its streaming hours in the third quarter were up 21% to 18 billion, year-over-year. Streaming hours per active account per day were 3.5 hours. Average revenue per user was up 49% year-over-year to $40.10.

Roku’s total revenue grew 51% to $680 million, with a net income of $68.9 million versus $12.9 million in the third quarter 2020.