Roku Howdy Streaming Service Expansion: A $2.99 Bet on the Ad-Free Gap

While major streaming giants are busy hiking prices and cluttering screens with ads, Roku is zagging where others zig. At CES 2026, Anthony Wood, Roku's founder and CEO, teased an aggressive growth roadmap for Howdy, the company's $2.99 per month ad-free service.

Roku Howdy Streaming Service Expansion Beyond Hardware

Speaking at the Variety Entertainment Summit, Wood pointed out that the segment of the market that started the streaming boom—low-cost and no ads—has virtually vanished. Since its launch in August 2025, Howdy has been Roku's attempt to reclaim that abandoned territory. But the real news isn't just the price; it's the distribution.

According to TechCrunch, Wood signaled that Howdy won't be tethered to Roku devices for long. He mentioned the company's intention to take the service "off-platform," suggesting that mobile apps and web versions are on the horizon. "We want to distribute it everywhere," Wood stated, hinting at a future where Howdy is an app you can load on any device, large or small.

A New Chapter for Roku's Business Model

Although Wood declined to share specific subscriber numbers, his ambition is clear: he expects Howdy to become a "big streaming service." This shift indicates that Roku is evolving from a gatekeeper of hardware into a platform-agnostic content provider, directly competing with the very services it hosts on its operating system.