Roku gets frugal with the content and price of its new streaming service

At a time when subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming services keep getting more expensive and their ads more extensive, Roku’s new streaming service, Howdy, is worth a closer look.

Howdy launched today in the US for $3 per month. It is currently only accessible via a web browser or the Howdy app on Roku OS. Roku said in its announcement today that Howdy will roll out to “mobile and additional platforms in the near future."

Howdy has, per Roku, “nearly 10,000 hours” of content from Warner Bros. Discovery, Lionsgate, and Filmrise. That’s a much smaller number of content distribution partners than what you’ll find on Roku’s flagship streaming service, The Roku Channel, which has shows and movies from companies like AMC Networks, MGM, NBCUniversal, and Paramount. (Roku also makes the Roku OS operating systems for smart TVs and streaming devices and Roku-brand TVs, and runs the Frndly TV streaming service.)

In its announcement, Roku touted the movies Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and The Blind Side (2009) and the shows Kids in the Hall from Canada (1984–present) and Showtime’s Weeds (2005–2012), as well as “iconic rom-coms, medical dramas, '90s comedy, [and] feel-good classics” as spotlights of Howdy’s library.

Perusing the service, you’ll find that featured movies include American Psycho (2000), Divergent (2014), Lucy (2014), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Saw (2004), and The Butterfly Effect (2004). Among featured TV shows are Ambitions (2019), Party Down (2009–2010), and Southland (2009–2013). Other titles include the movie Crank (2006), The Fate of the Furious (2017), The Iron Giant (1999), and the show Cheaters (2000–2021).

Cheap for ad-free streaming

As you can tell from above, Howdy's library isn't very modern or competitive with the likes of Netflix or other, more expensive streaming services. But at $3 per month, Howdy is notable as one of the cheapest ways to get mainstream—albeit largely dated—content without ads. For comparison, ad-free access to the much larger libraries of Netflix ($18 per month), Hulu ($19 per month), and Amazon Prime Video (starting at $12 per month without a Prime subscription) costs more.