Roku has built a dominant position as the co-leading streaming video distribution platform in U.S. households, in a near dead-heat with Amazon. The tw

Roku CEO Anthony Wood explains why people don't want to talk to their TVs and why he no longer reads business books

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2021-06-21 03:30:03

Roku has built a dominant position as the co-leading streaming video distribution platform in U.S. households, in a near dead-heat with Amazon. The two companies own more than 70% market share, according to research firm Parks Associates.

But can Roku maintain its lead over Apple and Google if Americans' future is a house controlled by a voice-enabled smart-home device that can turn on and off a television and change the channel?

That's not what people want, claims Roku CEO and founder Anthony Wood. He spoke with CNBC's Alex Sherman in an exclusive interview.

Sherman: Let's talk about interactivity. Is it just a matter of time before Roku lets me watch sports and bet from my TV at the same time and do other sorts of cool stuff people have never seen before?

Wood: It's a complicated question. A couple points. One, it's not as bad as it used to be, but even today, many companies just don't really understand the attitude people have when watching TV. They want to sit there, drink their beer, and watch TV. You've seen over the years, there was this whole phase where there were interactive TV companies. They all failed, because people don't want to do that. My philosophy is to keep things very simple. So any time interactive ideas have come up, we would not do that.