The Roku 3 television streaming player menu is displayed on a television in Los Angeles, California, USA on Thursday, September 12, 2013.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images
A View from the Top is a series of questions and answers available exclusively at CNBC Pro. Alex Sherman will speak regularly with a new business leader about decision making, investment, and industry news.
Roku is having a moment. The digital video aggregator is at a standstill with two of the largest media companies in the United States, NBCUniversal from Comcast and WarnerMedia from AT&T, to bring their new streaming apps, Peacock and HBO Max, respectively.
The disagreements between programmers and Roku are complicated but important because they will establish the infrastructure for how content companies and platforms will share revenue in the new world of media. Peacock and Roku discuss how much inventory is shared between services, whether Roku must pay a higher fee for that inventory, whether or not Roku’s ad technology integrates with Peacock, and possible restrictions on how Roku sells ads so it doesn’t compete with NBCUniversal’s advertising sales department, according to people familiar with the matter.
Battles are not slowing down Roku’s actions. In fact, stocks were up 30% this month alone, bringing their profit for the year to 14%.
Roku’s Scott Rosenberg leads the company’s media business and oversees ad sales and distribution as senior vice president and general manager for its platform. He is one of the key executives who directs Roku’s strategy and negotiations with content companies.
He then tells CNBC:
- NBCUniversal has been ordering almost all of the advertising inventory from Peacock, a non-starter for Roku, who wants at least part of it to sell itself.
- NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia are caught up in a legacy television mindset, where declining subscribers leads to a zero-sum game in the negotiations, rather than growing alongside Roku.
- Covid-19’s advertising declines will accelerate the collapse of the cable package as television ad dollars shift to streaming and cable companies seek to abandon more channels.
Here are the complete questions and answers:
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