Roku’s latest streaming venture is off to a solid start. Is affordable subscription service, Hellohas already exceeded one million subscribers, according to data from the research company Antenna. This is a notable milestone for a platform that’s still fairly new and suggests it’s striking a chord with viewers who are tired of paying for another expensive subscription.
Released Coming in August 2025, Howdy is Roku’s first real push into paid, ad-free streaming. For just $2.99 a month, Howdy is aimed at people who want to watch something more for a lower cost.
The service includes about 10,000 hours of content, with a mix of old movies and TV shows, thanks to deals with studios such as Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Discovery. This includes titles like “The Blind Side,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “Weeds.”
In addition to its cheap cost, Roku has also made it easier to access. Hello, it recently expanded to a standalone mobile app and launched on Amazon Prime Video, making it available to a wider audience. That broader reach probably helped it reach the million mark fairly quickly.
According to Antenna, Roku’s Howdy gained nearly 300,000 subscribers in its first month alone, then continued to grow steadily, adding at least 100,000 more subscribers every month after that.
Additionally, among users who signed up for Howdy in August and September 2025, Antenna estimates that 51% were still subscribed six months later. That puts Howdy ahead of the average six-month retention rate for both premium SVOD services (47%) and specialty SVOD platforms (38%). (“Specialized” platforms refer to ALLBLK, AMC+, Crunchyroll, and others.)
Howdy’s subscriber base remains a tiny sliver compared to giants like Netflix and Disney+, as well as free, ad-supported platforms like Tubi. However, Roku has made it clear that Howdy is not intended to go toe-to-toe with streaming heavyweights, but instead serves as a cheap, ad-free option that complements other subscriptions.
That said, it’s still early days. If Antenna’s new data is any indication, that kind of simple, low-commitment offering could be what sticks with viewers, especially at a time when prices are rising everywhere.
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