Roku has launched Roku Labs to test experimental apps and is open-sourcing its lightweight Roku LT OS for third-party development. The company is also expanding its redesigned home screen to international markets and introducing premium subscription bundles in the US and Mexico.
The launch of Roku Labs and the open-sourcing of Roku LT OS represents a strategic pivot toward community-driven innovation and hardware flexibility. By allowing users to beta-test features like Roku Stocks, the company creates a direct feedback loop that reduces the risk of full-scale feature failures. Open-sourcing the lightweight LT OS expands Roku's footprint beyond the living room, as evidenced by its early adoption in electric vehicle components. This move positions the company to compete more aggressively with flexible platforms like Android TV. Watch for whether third-party developers adopt Roku LT OS for non-streaming IoT devices to gauge the software's long-term versatility.
Roku has been steadily expanding its platform ecosystem beyond traditional streaming sticks and TVs. The company's operating system now powers more than 100 million active accounts globally, and its ad-supported Roku Channel has become a significant revenue driver. In early 2026, Roku announced a partnership with SharkNinja to integrate Roku OS into smart home appliances, marking one of the first non-entertainment deployments of its software outside the living room. That move foreshadowed the broader open-sourcing strategy now formalized with Roku LT OS, which had previously been limited to internal hardware like remotes and smart home devices. The Labs program gives Roku a structured channel to validate new features before committing engineering resources to full production, a model that mirrors how Amazon uses its Fire TV beta program to test interface changes with opted-in users.
On the business side, Roku's platform revenue has grown faster than its hardware segment for several consecutive quarters, driven by advertising and content distribution deals. The company's Q2 2026 earnings reported platform revenue of $1.1 billion, up 18% year over year, while hardware revenue declined as average selling prices fell. The introduction of premium subscription bundles in the US and Mexico, announced alongside the Labs program, represents an attempt to increase average revenue per user without relying solely on ad inventory. Roku also faces regulatory scrutiny in several markets over its default content placement and advertising practices. In 2025, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority opened a review into smart TV platform practices including Roku's interface design choices, examining whether pre-installed apps and default recommendations distort consumer choice.
Competing streaming platforms are pursuing similar openness strategies. Google's Android TV remains the dominant open-source TV operating system, powering devices from Sony, TCL, and Hisense, while Amazon's Fire TV has expanded into automotive and hospitality displays. Apple TV+ and Apple's tvOS remain closed but benefit from tight hardware integration. In the open-source space, the Linux Foundation's AGL (Automotive Grade Linux) project has attracted interest from TV manufacturers exploring lightweight OS alternatives for in-vehicle and IoT displays, creating potential overlap with Roku LT OS ambitions in embedded devices. Meanwhile, Samsung's Tizen OS and LG's webOS have both been licensed to third-party TV brands, intensifying competition for the software layer that sits between hardware manufacturers and content providers. Roku's decision to open-source LT OS positions it to compete for that same licensing revenue while the Labs program differentiates its user-facing innovation pipeline from rivals that rely on internal-only testing.
Roku has launched Roku Labs, a new program allowing users to test experimental features like Roku Stocks and Weather. Simultaneously, the company has open-sourced its lightweight Roku LT OS. These moves signal a strategic shift toward community-driven innovation and hardware flexibility, helping Roku compete more effectively against platforms like Android TV.
Roku Labs is a new program that allows users to test pre-release software and experimental features, such as Roku Stocks, Weather, Backdrops Studio, and Roku Immerse, directly from their home screen.
Roku open-sourced its lightweight LT OS to provide third-party developers with a free development kit and training, aiming to expand the operating system's footprint beyond streaming devices into areas like IoT and electric vehicle components.
Roku introduced premium subscription bundles in the U.S. and Mexico that offer users up to 30% savings across 30 different service combinations.
Roku Voice is adding real-time weather overlays, including information on humidity and wind speed, which will be accessible across the entire platform.
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