Fox mostly sat out the streaming wars, but is making a huge move by acquiring Roku.
Buying Roku would make Fox the third-largest TV distributor in the US by monthly viewership, according to Nielsen's March data (or fourth-largest if Paramount Skydance secures control of Warner Bros. Discovery).
That would put it behind YouTube and Disney but ahead of Netflix in total US TV viewership.
How did that happen? It mostly comes down to viewership growth in the free streaming business, which both Fox and Roku have focused on.
Fox would have a 10% US TV viewership share across its broadcast network, cable channels like Fox News and Fox Business, and free streamers Tubi and The Roku Channel. Fox also owns paid streamers Fox One and Fox Nation and would gain control of Howdy, Roku's $3-per-month streamer, which launched last August.
"As consumers get more price pinched, free ad-supported streaming is gaining a lot of ground," said Mike Proulx, a media analyst at Forrester, of Fox's Tubi deal.
Proulx said that adding Roku's free streamer will give Fox "a material foothold in one of the fastest-growing segments of streaming."
However, viewership doesn't directly translate into dollars. Netflix gushes cash, with nearly $4 billion in operating income last quarter, and had over 325 million subscribers at the end of 2025. Netflix is also huge across the world, while Nielsen's data only captures US viewership.
That's why Netflix, with its paid subscription model, is valued at over $342 billion.
For reference, Fox is worth nearly $22 billion, which is the same price it's planning to pay for Roku.
Fox's unorthodox streaming strategy
Unlike some rivals, Fox decided not to spend billions of dollars building out a mass-market streamer in hopes of competing with Netflix.
Instead, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch's Fox went the other direction by offloading its studio, its Hulu stake, and its library with shows like "The Simpsons" to Disney for $71 billion in 2019.
Fox doubled down on its big bets of live TV, especially sports and news, while rounding out its broadcast programming with cheaper scripted game shows like "The Masked Singer."
Fox also made a key move by buying the free streamer Tubi for $440 million in 2020. The Gen Z-friendly service has surged in popularity in recent years for its huge catalog of old TV and quirky, offbeat shows. Tubi generates more monthly viewership than paid streamers like Peacock and HBO Max, according to Nielsen.
With Roku, Fox would instantly become a superpower in the free streaming space. The Roku Channel is even bigger than Tubi, with more viewership than any free streamer except market leader YouTube, which is ahead by a mile.
Overall, free streamers have gained ground as their paid counterparts have raised prices. Hollywood giants like Netflix and Disney have been brainstorming ways to improve engagement.
Paid streamers have turned to short-form video and video podcasts to add more value and build habits by getting viewers to open their apps throughout the day.
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