Roku follows Netflix: End of household reports as a new trend?

Roku, a manufacturer of set-top boxes for TV streaming, announced that starting next year it will no longer provide information about the households using its products. This decision caused dissatisfaction among investors: Roku's shares fell by 7.1% to $72 in after-hours trading in New York. The move mirrors a strategy already adopted by Netflix. Roku will stop publishing quarterly reports on streaming households and will also stop disclosing average revenue per user from the first quarter of 2025. Instead, metrics such as streaming hours, platform revenue, adjusted earnings, and free cash flow will gain focus. Roku's challenges do not end there. The earnings forecast for the fourth quarter disappointed Wall Street's expectations. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for this quarter are expected to be $30 million—below the average analyst consensus of $36.2 million. Netflix found itself in a similar situation in April; its shares also fell after the company announced it would stop providing subscriber numbers and average revenue per user from the first quarter of 2025.