Video streaming company Roku posted an unexpected profit in the fourth quarter.
The company’s fourth quarter earnings came in at 49 cents per share adjusted, while analysts were expecting an adjusted net loss of -5 cents per share.
Revenue rose +58% from the year-ago quarter to $649.9 million, also topping analysts’ forecast of $617.7 million.
The platform’s average revenue per user climbed +24% year-over-year to $28.76 in the fourth quarter, on the back of increased advertising revenue – thanks to its six largest ad buyers more than doubling their spending year-over-year on Roku .
Roku now has more than 51 million active accounts. It streamed 17 billion hours of content (+55% year-over-year) in the fourth quarter and over 58 billion hours (+55% year-over-year ) in the whole year 2020.
For the first quarter, Roku projects revenue of $485 million. Analysts are expecting revenue of about $463 million.
Roku said that it will begin launching Quibi content later this year. It bought the online media network's content in January after Quibi shut down last year.