Today it was announced that Rob Holmes, who has been with Roku for six years, is leaving the company. Holmes helped launch The Roku Channel and the purchased of the Quibi programming after Quibi failed. This comes from a report by Deadline.
To replace Holmes, Roku is promoting David Eilenberg, who joined Roku in April of 2022. Eilenberg had been running original programming at Roku before his promotion. Before joining Roku, Holmes worked for NBCUniversal.
This move puts Eilenberg over both Roku’s Originals and Roku Studios. This all comes as Roku confronts a softening ad market that is affecting its core business as an ad company.
Last year Roku cut about 7% of its employees, resulting in about 200 cuts. The Roku Channel has been a surprise hit as it has become a leader in the world of free ad-supported streaming services.
Roku is reportedly spent $1 billion on content in 2022 and will continue to spend big in 2023.