Roku Channel Adds Discovery+ To Subscription Offerings

deadline.com:

Roku has integrated Discovery+, which it already offers as a stand-alone app in its regular store, into the offerings of the Roku Channel.Both the $5-a-month ad-supported version and the $7-a-month ad-free version will be part of the integration.In a recent quarterly report, Roku said the 5-year-old Roku Channel now reaches households with 80 million people and is in the top 5 among all streaming apps on its platform in terms of active account reach and streaming hour engagement.

While it is known for free offerings supported by advertising, the Roku Channel is also a gateway for more than 50 subscription services, including Starz, AMC+ and Showtime.The integration comes as Warner Bros Discovery, the recently merged parent company of Discovery+, has announced plans to bring HBO Max and Discovery+ together as a single service.

HBO Max came to Roku in late-2020 after launching without Roku availability.Last month, Warner Bros Discovery reported that Discovery had 24 million total streaming subscribers as of the end of the first quarter.

While the company does not break out the composition of that overall number, the bulk of it is Discovery+, which launched in early 2021.Randy Ahn, head of SVOD for the Roku Channel, told Deadline in an interview that the addition of Discovery+ was the largest infusion of library titles in the channel’s history.