Roku Inc achieved full-year profitability in 2025, marking its first annual profit since 2021. After several years of losses, the company reported a yearly profit of $88.4 million.

The streaming platform returned to full-year profitability following a period of rapid growth during the pandemic, driven by increased focus on advertising and subscription services. Cost reduction measures also contributed to improved performance. The San Jose-based company addressed previous overinvestment in smart home products such as security cameras and corrected staffing expansions made during the pandemic streaming boom.

Charlie Collier, President of Roku Media (joined in 2022), and Dan Jedda, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer (joined in 2023), helped control inefficient spending and redirected resources toward higher-return businesses. After three consecutive years of significant losses, Roku returned to full-year profitability in 2025.

Jedda stated in an interview, "We've been very disciplined in resource allocation, prioritizing projects that drive both revenue and profit growth."

New and expanded partnerships with demand-side platforms such as Amazon Advertising and FreeWheel brought in additional advertising revenue, enabling advertisers to purchase premium streaming ad inventory. The company plans to complete a redesign of its main interface this year, aimed at increasing user engagement time. The redesign will not alter the number of ad slots, according to the company.

Roku's primary revenue comes from digital ad sales and recommendations that guide users to subscribe to streaming services on its platform. Last year, the company earned a profit of $88.4 million, compared to net losses of $498 million in 2022, $709.6 million in 2023, and $129.4 million in 2024.

Roku went public in 2017 and last reported an annual profit in 2021, with earnings of $242.4 million. Analysts note that the 2021 profit occurred under unique circumstances, as millions of people stayed home during the pandemic and Roku temporarily slowed spending on international expansion.

Jason Helfstein, Head of Internet Research at Oppenheimer, commented, "The 2021 profit was somewhat accidental, largely driven by the pandemic, whereas the 2025 profit resulted from substantial operational improvements." He noted that the company's adjusted EBITDA reached $421 million last year.

On a quarterly basis, Roku returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2025, the first time since the fourth quarter of 2021.

The company expects annual free cash flow to reach $1 billion by 2028. In the fourth quarter, Roku reported a record net increase in premium subscription users on its platform but did not disclose specific figures.

Jedda expressed intentions to expand two owned subscription services: Frndly TV, a live TV service acquired in May of last year, and Howdy, an ad-free on-demand service launched in August. The core offering remains the Roku Channel, a free, ad-supported streaming channel.

Roku announced that it is nearing 100 million streaming households globally, though growth in the U.S. is slowing. The company is expanding internationally, with a focus on Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

Jedda remarked, "We've penetrated over half of U.S. broadband households, which required significant investment to achieve."

He added that Roku expects operating expenses to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage this year, from a base of $2.08 billion.

Analysts believe Roku can sustain full-year profitability. Alicia Reese, Senior Vice President of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, stated that although still in early stages, the new advertising products feature high-margin characteristics.

"Their newly added technologies are highly efficient and should continue to boost profit margins for at least the next few years," Reese said.

As part of its efficiency efforts, Roku is implementing artificial intelligence more broadly across the company. Jedda mentioned that AI is now used to analyze weekly trends in advertising metrics, replacing manual analysis by human analysts.

The AI tool can track up to 50 metrics per week, significantly more than the approximately 10 metrics analysts previously reviewed manually. Jedda indicated that the tool will eventually cover additional operational metrics.

"By Monday morning, we can immediately identify trends and begin analysis without spending time organizing data first," he said.