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Roku's $3 Howdy subscription service launches on Prime Video | TechCrunch

2026-03-24 · 00:00 UTC ·Aisha Malik ·1 min read

Brief

Roku is using Prime Video distribution to widen access to Howdy, its low-cost $3 ad-free subscription tier positioned as a complement to premium streaming services rather than a direct substitute. The service combines a roughly 10,000-hour licensed catalog with select Roku Originals, and the launch fits into Roku’s broader monetization strategy alongside The Roku Channel, which the company says reaches more than 125 million daily users and leads the FAST category over Tubi and Pluto TV.

Why it matters

Roku expanded its $3/month ad-free streaming service Howdy to Amazon Prime Video on 2026-03-24, marking the first time the service has been available outside the Roku ecosystem.

Key details

  • Howdy launched in August 2025 with nearly 10,000 hours of programming from partners including Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Disney Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise, plus select Roku Originals.
  • The move follows Roku's broader subscription push: it acquired Frndly TV for $185 million in 2025, said at CES in January that Howdy would come to other platforms, and reported $80.5 million in net income for Q4 2025 while planning new streaming bundles.
Source evidence

title: Roku's $3 Howdy subscription service launches on Prime Video | TechCrunch
author: Aisha Malik
contenttype: article
publication: TechCrunch
published: 2026-03-24T00:00:00
sourceurl: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/rokus-3-howdy-subscription-service-launches-on-prime-video/

word_count: 318

Roku announced on Tuesday that Howdy, its $3 ad-free streaming service, is launching on Amazon’s Prime Video. The announcement marks the service’s first expansion outside the Roku ecosystem.

Launched in August 2025, Howdy features a library of nearly 10,000 hours of content from Roku’s partners, including Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Disney Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise, alongside select Roku Original titles.

Subscribers can watch titles like “A Haunting in Venice,” “Ice Age,” “Weeds,” and “Kids in the Hall,” as well as rom-coms, medical dramas, ’90s comedies, classics, and more.

At launch, Roku said Howdy was designed to complement, not compete with, premium services.

To sign up for Howdy via Prime Video, you’ll need either an Amazon Prime membership or a standalone Prime Video subscription.

“Our goal has always been to make great entertainment more accessible,” said Gil Fuchsberg, President of Subscriptions, Partnerships, and Corporate Development at Roku, in a press release. “Expanding to Prime Video builds on our momentum and furthers our mission to deliver an ad-free streaming experience at a price that makes it easy for audiences everywhere to enjoy content they love.”

The expansion to Prime Video doesn’t come as a surprise, as Roku CEO and founder Anthony Wood said at CES in January that Howdy would be coming to other platforms.

Roku’s launch of Howdy came two months after the company paid $185 million to acquire Frndly TV, a streaming service that offers live TV, on-demand video, and cloud-based DVR.

Howdy joined the company’s Roku Channel, its free, ad-supported (FAST) streaming service. According to a report from last year, The Roku Channel is the most popular FAST service, ahead of competitors Tubi and Pluto TV. More than 125 million people use the platform every day, Roku says.

Roku released its fourth-quarter earnings for 2025 last month, posting a net income of $80.5 million. The company also announced that it’s going to launch new streaming bundles.