Launching a Roku channel is the best option if you’ve ever wondered how to target consumers who enjoy streaming on their TVs. In the United States alone, Roku offers access to over 62.1 million monthly active users and has the largest smart TV streaming watch time globally. The number continues to rise each quarter and has more than doubled over the past three years, according to Statistica, making it the largest monthly active user total in business history.
If those numbers aren’t enough to make you consider how to create your own Roku channel, perhaps the cash will. Roku announced $764 million in revenue for the most recent quarter, an excellent 18% increase year over year. Additionally, in the second quarter of 2022, the number of hours streamed on Roku in the US reached a record high of about 20.7 billion.
We bet you’re now curious about how to make your own Roku channel if you’re a content creator or business owner. Although designing and publishing a Roku app is not simple, the effort could be well worth it. Here are the essential details about using Roku to make your own OTT channel.
What is Roku?
A Roku player is a device that makes it simple for people to stream videos from the internet to their TVs. Now it’s much simpler to stream services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu on a huge screen.
Additionally, users of your OTT streaming platform or app have access to more than 100,000 films and television programmes on a variety of both free and paid channels. Additionally, there is no monthly price for the hardware (the Roku player) and users just have to pay for the channels they actually watch.
The Roku players have been active in the market since 2008. As a result, Roku is now well-known and supported across the streaming video industry.
How does Roku TV work?
An enhanced Roku streaming device makes a direct HDMI connection to your TV. The player would connect either through a set-top box or a Roku stick. There is no additional device required for connecting because Roku TV is an online television set connected with a built-in Roku-enabled device.
Roku works by establishing a wireless or wired connection to your internet to provide you access to streaming services and channels. If you don’t have a smart TV and want to view a variety of material without paying for cable, this is a fantastic choice.
One of the first platforms to allow independent developers to introduce their own channels on a popular connected TV device was Roku. The most popular OTT platform for independent developers and content creators is still Roku.
Roku players simply require a little setup help. Customers may very easily instal particular channels or programmes on their Roku devices in order to watch any streaming service they choose. For instance, they must add the Prime channel to their Roku player if they want to watch Amazon Prime.
They can contact the Roku channel shop, which is reachable from the Roku home screen, as an easy solution. Even while adding a new channel is free, certain channels may demand a separate membership if consumers want to watch them.
Why should one create a Roku Channel?
The existence of “channels,” which are similar to traditional TV channels but have an infinite number of them, is one of the distinguishing qualities of Roku. Channels are referred to as “apps” on Apple TV and Amazon’s Fire TV, while they are actually channels on Roku.
More than 2,500 channels are available in the public Roku directory, including several free services like YouTube, PBS, TED lectures, CBS News, and Pandora. Other channels, like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, and Amazon Video, require memberships; however, if you already pay for these services, there is no additional cost.
Roku channels are a terrific tool for creators of multimedia content, broadcasters, and anyone else who wants to curate it for public consumption. Approximately 10 million people use Roku worldwide, therefore a sizable audience may access Roku content. The following are some more factors which contribute to its popularity with viewers:
Access to new subscribers
When you make your own Roku channel, you’ll have access to the 63.1 million active users of the platform. Before they see it in the Roku app store or when looking for other content from their preferred OTT content providers like Netflix or HBO, some of these customers could never have heard of your content! You may connect with even more people by developing a Roku app.
Improved access to your viewers
You may give your audience another easy way to access content from the comfort of their own homes at their convenience by setting up your own TV channel on Roku.
They can view your content on TV displays in addition to having access to it on demand, which enhances the user experience. Viewers can now access content straight from a new movie release and watch it however they like.
Additional revenue stream
Spending on streaming devices for advertising is rising. Roku received more than $1 billion in advertising commitments for the TV seasons 2022–2023, dislodging traditional cable TV from ad spending. Making your own app will enable you to profit in new ways with membership services and pay-per-view transactions for your users, in addition to the fact that more businesses are swarming to place ads on streaming platforms.
Additionally, Roku makes it simple for customers to use their Roku accounts to buy content or subscriptions thanks to its in-app purchase feature, which is available for all apps available through the Roku channel store.
Content and affordability
Roku’s ability to provide access to a vast library of material from numerous streaming services, including Netflix, Spotify, CNN, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and many others, is one of the main reasons for its popularity. Viewers can add Roku’s free channel to their selection of streaming options in addition to replacing their outdated cable or satellite TV subscriptions.
Simple to use
Users can access all streaming services with Roku and watch them on a single device. Viewers are thereby released from any inconveniences related to using various devices, apps, or services.
Better interface and user control
Users may tap on their smartphones to navigate through and stream content from their Roku channels. The special benefits that customers are keen to pay for are all provided by casting media to TV or by substituting the standard remote or its private listening capability.
How to create a Roku Channel
Let’s go on to the exciting part: how to build a Roku channel that will expand your business, attract new audiences, and generate revenue. As an open platform, Roku channels can be made by anyone as long as they adhere to the company requirements.
How do you begin, then? Making a Roku channel can be done in one of three ways:
1. Lease a Roku Channel
The quickest, most cost-effective, and safest course of action is to lease Roku channels from an appropriate OTT provider. The OTT service provider who has Roku channels, CDN (Content Delivery Network), video/audio hosting platform, playout support, etc. will handle all technical tasks, including setting up your channel with your exclusive content, implementing content protection and security protocols, maintaining & updating your app over time, adding/managing new features, and any other technical tasks.
Gizmott is the best option if you want something fast, affordable, and of high quality. Gizmott is a user-friendly piece of software that enables anyone to build Roku channel apps.
You can create premium TV channels with their no-code technology without having to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for developers or designers. Additionally, you may easily monetize your channel through advertising, paywall subscriptions, sponsorships, and other methods.
2. Roku direct publisher
Roku provides a free software called Roku Direct Publisher. This enables you to publish a straightforward Roku channel for your company. The benefits are clear: This is the least expensive method and is excellent for tenacious businesspeople. However, there are a few disadvantages to be aware of.
• You need to set up a content hosting solution, a CDN or an online video platform (OVP) to host your content and deliver the Roku channel.
• You need to create Roku customer, developer, and billing accounts after completing the above steps. Then, after logging in to the Roku developer dashboard, just click through the subsequent steps to launch your first Roku channel. Setting up a web hosting service can also get your feed online. It functions like any other website host would and can be added to your current page.
• The following step is to construct your content feed, which must contain all the necessary metadata, such as URLs, content descriptions, and titles, for your material to be streamed on a Roku device. A JSON file, MRSS (Media RSS), or XML file must be created for such a feed. You’ll need to work with a developer familiar with the specialised coding used by Roku.
3. Hire a developer or agency
In addition to the two approaches mentioned above, there is a third, less practical option, which is to create your own Roku channel developer from scratch. But for this, you’ll have to recruit a full developer team and set aside a lot more time—roughly 5 to 6 months—for coding, developing, testing, and other tasks. This is without a doubt the most expensive option and also not the preferred choice for the majority of firms.
Building Roku channels is a niche industry with many agencies. Agencies have benefits and drawbacks. It can be beneficial to have a genuine team to provide creative guidance and input.
Additionally, if you’re new to Roku, their experience and knowledge might be really helpful. But the disadvantages are equally obvious. It may take an agency many months to finish a project. They can also cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars
