Roku tests customer patience with startup video ads
Over the weekend, a number of Roku device owners noticed an irksome new advertising method from the company: a trailer for Moana 2 began playing before they’d even made it to the Roku homescreen. Ars Technica reported on the situation, which has been called out in a few different Reddit threads.
The reaction among customers, as you might imagine, is overwhelmingly negative. It’s worth remembering that Roku makes the bulk of its revenue from advertising — not bargain-bin priced streaming hardware. But just like Amazon before it, Roku is discovering that it’s easy to turn the ads dial too far. It’s possible to exit out of the ad after it starts, but that hasn’t done much to quell the frustration.
“I’ll take the banner ads, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna put up with a video loading when loading up my Roku,” one Redditor wrote. “Just turned on my TV to see a video open on the homescreen and play some trailer? I hope this was a fluke,” another person posted to Roku’s community forum. “I trashed all of my Amazon boxes years ago because of this garbage. If it keeps up, my Rokus will be next.” Turns out people get incensed when you make them watch a video ad just to use a product.
On the company’s most recent earnings call, Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood discussed the balancing act of trying to evolve ad presentation without ruining what he sees as an “iconic” homescreen. “Our strategy of making better use of our homescreen is not just about putting a marquee video ad on the homescreen. We are very careful about putting ads on our homescreen,” he said. “We’re very focused on both driving more monetization but also driving increased customer satisfaction. We have a very iconic homescreen, consumers love it. We have no intention of breaking it.”
Roku first started moving beyond static homescreen ads last year. This is also the company that has explored the idea of inserting ad overlays for plugged-in HDMI devices, which would extend Roku’s reach beyond its own players. In a statement to Ars Technica, Roku steered clear of admitting that it might’ve gone overboard here, saying that the company “has and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content, and our first-rate advertising products.” The Moana startup ad is apparently an example of “new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.” From the feedback so far, customers seem to view this as anything but delightful.
Whether it’s Amazon, Google, or Roku, they’re all constantly trying to feel out just how much customers are willing to tolerate in exchange for affordable streaming gadgets. But these ads often extend to pricier hardware as well. A couple weeks ago, I saw a full-screen Starbucks ad on the Google TV homescreen of my Hisense U8N, which retails for over $900. Not ideal, but this is how it goes now.
Your options are to ignore the ads and go about your day, switch to a product like the Apple TV 4K, or use third-party tools in the hopes of avoiding the advertising machine altogether. But be warned: some Roku customers think the company might be finding ways to thwart solutions like Pi-hole.