4KUniverse, a 4K-only service that is delivered primarily OTT while also seeking distribution with U.S. MVPDs, said it has streamed 1 million minutes of programming in the format on Roku devices.
The most popular series from 4KUniverse to date is Blue World, the underwater series starting Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Jonathan Bird.
A subset of Roku models that support 4K – the Roku 4, Roku Ultra, Roku Premiere, Roku Premiere+, and select integrated Roku TVs. While the streaming milestone offers a helpful indicator of consumer interest in the 4K format, it’s still a small portion of Roku’s overall streaming numbers. Roku recently announced that nearly 7 billion hours were streamed on the Roku platform in the first half of 2017, a 61% increase versus the same period in 2016.
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4KUniverse also supports other platforms, including Amazon Fire TV devices and the web. It has plans to extend support to Android TV-powered Sony Bravia 4K TVs starting in August. The programmer is also part of SES’s content slate for an array of trials underway with cable operators and telcos.
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“Reaching the milestone of 1 million minutes streamed on 4KUNIVERSE is a testament to consumers’ strong interest in watching 4K entertainment,” 4KUNIVERSE Founder & CEO Matthew Mancinelli, said in a statement. “We are actively talking with all U.S. cable operators to bring our 4K linear channel to the masses and we continue to add new 4K content every month.”
4KUniverse was launched in January 2016. Mitchell Berman, an industry exec late of HBO, E!, Sky Network New Zealand, Foxtel Australia and OpenTV, is on board as a strategic advisor.
