Tech News: Roku OS Home Screen Is Getting Video Ads

By Kevin | Comments Off on Tech News: Roku OS Home Screen Is Getting Video Ads
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Roku plans to introduce video ads to the Roku OS home screen.

As Sharron Harding at Ars Technica points out, this comes after recent efforts to increase the number of ads present on Roku as you use it, including free ad-supported streaming TV via The Roku Channel, as they call it, and content recommendations on the home screen. This may include AI-driven content based on what you watch.

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What's Going On:

Roku is adding more ads to their relatively inexpensive devices to boost revenue at the expense of the user experience. This includes video ads (hopefully muted by default) on the Home Screen, and video ads that will display when you pause something you're watching.

According to Roku CEO Andrew Wood:

"There's lots of ways we're working on enhancing the home screen to make it more valuable to viewers but also increase the monetization on the home screen. Our business remains well positioned to capture the billions of dollars in traditional TV ad budgets that will shift to streaming."

Harding also mentions Roku's intention to show you ads on top of what you're watching when it's paused.

Roku intends to find more ways to drive advertising opportunities. Among those ideas being explored is the ability to show ads over anything plugged into the TV.

My Take:

I find Roku's tactics offensive. They continue to "enshittify" technology as companies relentlessly prioritize shareholder value over user experience. The Roku is one of the cheapest streaming devices available, and they're making up for that by showing you more ads.

We have a few Rokus in our home. I hope the video ads on the Home Screen are muted by default. We already see ads for content on The Roku Channel or TV shows or movies advertised by streaming services, and they've done a good job with that, but I'd prefer that space be used to add or improve the user experience instead.

Having ads playing while something is muted sounds isn't great, but depending on the app, maybe it should replace the screensaver that kicks in. While just on the Home Screen, the screensaver kicks in after about 10 minutes, though that can be adjusted.

I fully intend to purchase an Apple TV when I can, but I suspect they will eventually find places to put ads there as well. Like Roku, they'll likely want a share of the ad revenue that they see migrating over from traditional TV. No one likes this, but we're not really being given the choice either.

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