Roku Channel deal with Lionsgate will bring John Wick 4, Borderlands to free streaming

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The studio's theatrical releases will be available for free on the Roku Channel immediately after they are shown on Starz. It has films like John Wick: Chapter 4, The Expendables 4, and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, and more will be available on the channel in two separate windows. The first place viewers can see the films for free will be on the Roku Channel.

Jim Packer, the president of worldwide television distribution at Lionsgate, said that the agreement affirmed the great demand for first-run studio movies across a broad array of platforms.

This is the first deal of its kind for the streaming service and could help bolster its Roku Channel, which reached around 80 million people in the last quarter of 2021. In the fourth quarter of last year, the platform business of the company earned about $425 million, while the streaming hardware business lost $46 million. Between the beginning and end of the year, the average revenue per user grew from $28.76 to $41.03.

For years, Roku has positioned itself as more than just a streaming service. The platform retains 30 percent of ad inventory on apps outside of the Roku Channel and keeps 100 percent of those profits, which has caused some tension with the likes of Google and Amazon. The company gained access to the company's ad-targeting tech after signing a deal with the advertising agency. In the company's most recent earnings call, Anthony Wood noted that the company views user data as a key competitive advantage.

The free streaming channel plays a huge part in bolstering the company's ad business, justifying partnering with Lionsgate for exclusive windowed access to these movies. Wood told investors on the last call how powerful the Roku Channel has become as a source of ad inventory for us and how that is driving the growth of the business.