Roku's Entry Into Smart Home Includes Recurring Revenue Play

Roku is branching out into smart home products, it said Wednesday, announcing a line of security cameras, video doorbells, lighting and plugs made by Wyze Labs that will be sold exclusively in nearly 3,500 Walmart stores beginning Monday.

Select products that will also be sold at Walmart.com and Roku.com went on sale at the e-commerce sites Wednesday, including the SE indoor camera two-pack ($49), Wire-free Video Doorbell & Chime SE ($99), SE white smart bulbs ($24 for a four-pack) and an outdoor smart plug SE ($15).

Roku is pursuing recurring revenue with the smart home opportunity, offering monthly and annual subscriptions for video camera recording storage and other features available only via subscription. Consumers who subscribe before Nov. 30 get a monthly subscription for $2.99 per camera, a $1 discount, or $29 annually vs. $39, Roku said. The subscription includes storage of 14 days of video clips vs. image-only storage without a subscription.

Subscriptions also include person, package, vehicle and pet detection, plus event filtering, Roku said. Without a subscription, Roku video camera and video doorbell owners, and subscribers, get live streaming, motion and sound alerts -- including package delivery notifications -- and smoke and carbon dioxide alarm detection, the company said. Subscribers can filter events by type, allowing them to see only events they care about -- such as package deliveries -- “and not ones you don’t -- like a car turning around in your driveway,” said the Roku website.

The initial Walmart lineup includes a floodlight camera, indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbell and chime, white and color smart bulbs, smart light strips, and indoor and outdoor smart plugs, Roku said. Cameras will start below $27 in stores, Roku said. The launch includes apps for iOS and Android, it said.

“Tens of millions” of U.S. households use the Roku platform, “and now we’re extending our ecosystem to include devices and services to power the modern smart home,” said Mustafa Ozgen, Roku president-devices. Ozgen called the move into the smart home category a “natural extension of our business,” and referenced “simple and affordable” in its partnership with Walmart.

At launch, Roku TV operating system integration will allow users to see who's at the door via a Roku video doorbell via their Roku-connected TV, and users will be able to view livestreams from their Roku cameras and use a Roku voice remote to bring up video feeds on TV, the company said.

Roku Smart Home will be compatible with third-party voice “works with” integrations with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa beginning early November, it said. The Roku Smart Home devices are certified by ioXt Alliance and offer two-factor authentication, user data encryption, secure boot and other security capabilities, Roku said.