• by Wayne Friedman , April 27, 2023

Roku's first-quarter revenue improved just 1% to $741 million versus a year ago -- with its active accounts growing 17% year-over-year to 71.6 million. 

This gave its stock an after-market kick, boosting it 2% more to reach $57.22 a share.

This comes as Roku has seen a 1% dip in its closely watched platform revenues --- which include advertising revenues -- to land at $634.1 million. 

Roku executives say ad-market weakness will continue in the second quarter.

Digital media and legacy TV-video media companies have been hit with a slowdown in the advertising marketplace since the beginning of the third quarter of 2022.

Roku witnessed another key metric going south -- the average monthly revenue per user (ARPU)-- slipping 5% to $40.67 from a year before.

On a positive note, its active accounts grew 1.6 million in the first quarter of 2023 from the fourth quarter of 2022. 

Another bright spot came with its device business -- which now includes a growing line of Roku manufactured and branded TV sets -- improving 18% to $106.4 million from a year ago. The revenue from this area was still down from the fourth-quarter period, when it totaled $135.8 million.

Overall, Wall Street investors witnessed a glimmer of hope with Roku's adjusted cash-flow results. Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) narrowed to $69.1 million -- from $95.2 million in the fourth quarter.