Streaming device maker and content provider Roku is looking to expand its offerings with original content. That’s based on a recent report detailing at least one job listing now posted for the company. Specifically, that’s a job listing for a production attorney.
Now, Roku hasn’t provided any insight into the listing or the potential for original media just yet. But the listing does provide a good amount of detail about what the production attorney would do. And that, in turn, appears to point to plans for original content from Roku. In fact, it explicitly states that the job would be for “Roku’s original episodic and feature-length productions.”
The duties would include working on “option purchase, script acquisition, and life rights agreements,” among other things. But the attorney would also be directly involved in agreements to hire writers, actors, directors, and producers. Agreements regarding production services, prop rentals, likeness releases, and credit memos, are included in the responsibilities for the position too.
What does this and original content mean for Roku and its customers?
Reports detailing the job listing indicate that the most likely placement for Roku’s original content won’t be on a paid platform either. Instead, the original content from the company would most likely appear on its biggest existing platform. Namely, the Roku Channel. The media giant, in a November report, indicated that ad revenue from the channel had garnered more than $1 billion on a 12-month trailing basis.
Roku Channel is a free-to-use ad-supported platform. And that, coupled with Roku’s recent acquisition of Quibi, positions the company almost perfectly to provide fresh competition in the streaming media space. Especially with consideration for the continued growth of competition between existing services such as Disney+ and Netflix. Original media would set the company well apart from even the best platforms in the free-to-use space.
And, since the company already makes some of the best streaming devices, the advantages don’t stop there.
But don’t expect content soon
Of course, production on original content, whether TV shows or movies, takes time. So it shouldn’t be expected that Roku will reveal new hits or related updates to its app any time soon. Hiring a production attorney is likely among the first steps required to push the company in that direction. Any potential releases are likely anywhere from months to years away.