Exclusive: Roku launches Howdy, a cheap, ad-free streaming service
The company − which sells set-top streaming devices, smart TVs and has its own free, ad-supported streaming service, The Roku Channel − wants to make your streaming life cheaper and easier. And they're doing it by introducing a new, low-cost service that won't make you sit through commercials between episodes of your favorite old sitcoms.
USA TODAY can exclusively reveal that Roku is launching Howdy on Tuesday, Aug. 5: For just $2.99 a month, Roku device users can stream a library of "thousands" of titles and nearly 10,000 hours of content, all commercial-free. The movies and TV shows on the service come from partners such as Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery and FilmRise.
Want to save money on your streaming? It's time to embrace commercials
Howdy will initially only be available on Roku devices, but has plans to roll out on mobile and other platforms "in the near future," the company says.
Among the titles available on launch day are films like "Elvis," "Mad Max: Fury Road," "Back to the Future" and TV series like "Weeds" and "Party Down."
Exclusively using "library content" might not seem as ambitious or expansive as many of the biggest streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ or HBO Max, but Howdy isn't trying to compete directly with them.
"We don't think it'll replace a 'tier one' streaming service," Roku CEO Anthony Wood tells USA TODAY. "People have multiple streaming services and it will be a great complement." Prices are rising on other streaming services in part because new original TV shows and movies are expensive to produce. Howdy will avoid that all together by essentially showing re-runs of content they know their users already enjoy.
"Library content is very popular and people like to watch it," Wood says. "They spend a lot of hours watching it."
Wood and Roku hope the rising costs of "tier one" services (Peacock is the latest to raise prices) are stretching viewers' budgets enough to tempt them into trying something as cheap as Howdy, which they happily note is "less than the price of your morning coffee or a single movie rental anywhere else." The service does not have a trial period, but users can cancel at any time.
There is plenty of opportunity for Howdy to find an audience, even exclusively on Roku devices. The company's Roku Channel is the most-watched free, ad-supported TV service in the U.S., according to Comscore. Roku devices are in more than half of U.S. households, reaching 125 million people each day.
"This type of service doesn't exist," Wood says, hopeful that his new venture can fill a hole in the streaming market. "Add a bunch of extra movies and TV shows for three bucks a month and no ads! I mean, I think it's great."
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