• by Laurie Sullivan , 2 hours ago

Roku has improved its search features and ad-tech tools during the past quarter to attract more advertising spend that would keep viewers and consumers engaged.

“To further help our viewers find content faster and engage more deeply with the Roku Experience, we are improving our search functionality,” the company wrote in its shareholder letter published Thursday. “We are incorporating advanced AI for more accurate interpretations of our viewers’ queries, even when the queries are broad, conversational, or only based on mood and context.”

Roku reported Thursday that advertising revenue rose 25% to $673 million in the quarter ended June 30 compared with a year ago, while subscription revenue climbed 26% to $548 million. Both segments benefited from the FIFA World Cup, the company said.

Total revenue grew 21.6% to $1.35 billion in the second quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $1.30 billion, according to data compiled by The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

In the shareholder letter, the company stated its goal to build the “most performant CTV ad platform in the industry, with a key focus on deepening our programmatic capabilities through expanded third-party integrations.”

In Q2, third-party demand-side platforms accounted for nearly three-quarters of in-stream video ad spend on its platform — with DSPs including Amazon DSP, The Trade Desk, Google DV360 and Yahoo, as well as supply-side platforms Magnite, Google Ad Manager and FreeWheel.

In the last quarter, Roku announced a new demand partner, Smartly, the first to connect to Roku Ads Manager via Roku Ads API. Smartly is expected to add incremental performance revenue by early 2027.

Roku did not hold an earnings conference call after the company released financial results, because of its pending $22 billion acquisition by Fox Corporation.

Instead, it published a shareholder letter and financial reports highlighting performance metrics. Its executives believe these partnerships and upgrades to its tech system validate a push further into performance and advertising.

Roku's Q2 2026 shareholder letter reported $1.35 billion in total net revenue and a 25% increase in platform revenue, driven by advertising and subscriptions. The company also highlighted 37.9 billion streaming hours.

The company stated that these improvements can strengthen Roku’s monetization opportunities over time by supporting subscription conversion and retention, increasing monetizable streaming hours, and improving the performance of advertising and merchandising.

While artificial intelligence (AI) is part of the technology allowing revenue to climb, the company noted in its 10-Q filed on Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its “use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies in our operations, products, and services” could become a risk related to profit and revenue gains.

Roku performance advertising push evolved with the offering of self-service tools that use deterministic data and real-time optimization in September 2024, with the release of Roku Ads Manager. It evolved into interactive Action Ads and a direct Shopify integration that allows viewers to complete shoppable transactions from TV screens.