Roku’s affordable ad-free streaming service, Howdy, just hit a major milestone by reaching a million subscribers. The number comes from a report from Antenna, showing the rapid growth of the service.
Roku launched Howdy in August 2025 as a way for Roku to dive into the paid streaming game, while giving viewers a more affordable option, with a price of $2.99 per month.
“Priced at less than a cup of coffee, Howdy is ad-free and designed to complement, not compete with, premium services,” said Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood when the service launched. “We’re meeting a real need for consumers who want to unwind with their favorite movies and shows uninterrupted and on their terms. Howdy is a natural step for us at Roku, extending our mission to make better TV for everyone, by making it affordable, accessible, and built for how people watch today.”
The company has been adding to the content library regularly since the launch, and announced a licensing deal with Disney Entertainment, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery last month to bring a new rotating slate of titles to the service. The content library includes thousands of titles and over 10,000 hours of entertainment, with a lineup that includes rom-coms, 90s shows, classics, and more. Subscribers will also find Roku Originals on the channel.
Roku brought expanded availability of the app by bringing it to Prime Video Channels and launching a mobile app in March.
In its report, Antenna estimates that Howdy added nearly 300,000 subscribers in its first month, with an additional 100,000 subscribers signing up each following month. That would bring the total subscriber number to one million in March.
Antenna also believes that Howdy is seeing strong retention among those subscribers, estimating that of those who signed up in August and September 2025, 51% were still subscribed six months later. The report cites the low price point as the driver behind the above-average retention rate.
Adding to the success of Howdy’s quick growth is the ability of Roku to market the service to its audience. Earlier this month, Roku announced it has surpassed 100 million streaming households worldwide, giving the platform a massive group of users to sell its affordable service to.
Howdy is just one piece of Roku’s strategy to grow revenue through third- and first-party subscriptions. The company also owns and operates The Roku Channel, the most-watched free streaming service in the U.S. and Frndly TV, a wallet-friendly live TV streaming service.