, Columnist
Don’t Write Off Roku. It Can Be the Next Netflix.
The company is evolving from an industry partner to a competitor, and it has a chance to become an essential content platform.
Becoming a contender.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
What if there’s another Albanian army?
It’s hard not to notice that Roku Inc., the streaming-TV platform and device maker, bears a resemblance to Netflix Inc. in its earlier days, a time when some investors and rival companies were dismissive of Netflix’s potential. In 2010, Jeff Bewkes, then-chief executive of Time Warner, famously made a dig at Netflix that would become Hollywood folklore: “It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world? I don’t think so.”