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Five Elements of a Successful Roku Channel
By Phil Autelitano
@PhilAutelitano
Since I developed and launched my first Roku channel five-plus years ago, a lot has changed, not just in the platform itself, but in the quality of channels being presented, the quality of content, the amount of content, and more importantly, the number of viewers . Roku viewers are now well above 20 million and still growing — that’s more than any other Connected TV platform! …and we still have a long way to go.
I’ve developed over 100 channels now. I’ve seen channels come and go, not just some I’ve developed, but many (dozens, if not hundreds) I haven’t. Some Roku channels stand the test of time, others are here and gone. It all comes down to what I believe are FIVE characteristics that make for a great Roku channel. If your channel has all FIVE characteristics, you’re golden — your audience loves it, and they keep coming back for me. If it has two of them, you’re 40% golden; your audience is more sporadic, your channel is doing “OK” but it could be doing a lot better. And if it has none of them, well… you’re fucked — your audience hates it, no one is adding it, those that do are dropping it, and you’re not getting a lot of return viewers.
The more of these FIVE characteristics your Roku channel has, the better it will do both in terms of viewers and revenue…