{"id":11137,"date":"2025-03-18T08:58:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T15:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=11137"},"modified":"2025-03-18T08:58:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T15:58:03","slug":"awful-roku-tests-autoplaying-ads-loading-before-the-home-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/awful-roku-tests-autoplaying-ads-loading-before-the-home-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAwful\u201d: Roku Tests Autoplaying Ads Loading Before the Home Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The pressure for revenue strikes all megacorps. We’re still using an old 4K box Roku made back in the 2010’s. Consequently, I haven’t seen these advertisements on ours, but then I’ve disabled some domains in my Pi-Hole DNS\/Unbound<\/a> servers that the Roku box communicated with too much. Consequently, this would make me abandon the platform and look for another streaming solution. Funny, they mention the old ads that showed to the side, but I haven’t seen those since blocking some of their domains (or possibly in my ad block lists as well). This provides a good advertisement for running your own Pi-Hole DNS\/Unbound servers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2025\/03\/roku-sa<\/a>y<\/a>s-unpopular-autoplay-ads-are-just-a-test\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
Users are unimpressed, eager to toss devices if test sticks.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Scharon Harding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A Roku TV. Credit: Roku<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Owners of smart TVs and streaming sticks running Roku OS are already subject to video advertisements on the home screen.<\/a> Now, Roku is testing what it might look like if it took things a step further and forced people to watch a video ad play before getting to the Roku OS home screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports of Roku customers seeing video ads automatically play before they could view the OS\u2019 home screen started appearing online this week. A Reddit user, for example, posted<\/a> yesterday: \u201cI just turned on my Roku and got an … ad for a movie, before I got to the regular Roku home screen.\u201d Multiple apparent users reported seeing an ad for the movie Moana 2<\/em>. The ads have a close option, but some users appear to have not seen it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When reached for comment, a Roku spokesperson shared a company statement that confirms that the autoplaying ads are expected behavior but not a permanent part of Roku OS currently. Instead, Roku claimed, it was just trying the ad capability out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roku\u2019s representative said that Roku\u2019s business \u201chas and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content, and our first-rate advertising products,\u201d adding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our recent test is just the latest example, as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Roku didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether it has plans to make autoplaying ads permanent on Roku OS, which devices are affected, why Roku decided to use autoplaying ads, or customer backlash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnacceptable\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of the comments that Ars Technica has reviewed about the marketing \u201ctest\u201d have suggested that customers would get rid of their Roku device if the software continues to force them to watch an ad before getting to the content they actually want to see. A user on Roku\u2019s community forum<\/a> wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I hope this was a fluke. I trashed all of my Amazon boxes years ago because of this garbage. If it keeps up, my Rokus will be next.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Forum users who worried the change was permanent called the ads “unacceptable” and “intrusive.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Roku increases its ad load on customer devices from still images to ads with moving pictures with sound<\/a>, it will test customers\u2019 limits. Some who have tolerated a static image on a neglected part of their screen may not be as accepting of more distracting ad formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI could accept the static ad on the side. Forcing a loud commercial is awful,\u201d one Redditor wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a budget streaming hardware brand, Roku has been known to push the boundaries on ads. Roku has even gone so far as to apply for a patent for technology that shows ads over anything you plug into your TV<\/a> (Roku has never actually implemented this capability).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are less ad-intrusive smart TV platforms available besides Roku. But in general, it\u2019s getting increasingly difficult<\/a> for smart TV users to avoid ads. All TV manufacturers, from budget brands<\/a> to premium ones<\/a>, are growing reliance on ads<\/a> and tracking<\/a> as ways to bolster revenue among declining hardware prices, sales, and innovation<\/a> and increased competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pressure for revenue strikes all megacorps. We’re still using an old 4K box Roku made back in the 2010’s. Consequently, I haven’t seen these advertisements on ours, but then I’ve disabled some domains in my Pi-Hole DNS\/Unbound servers that the Roku box communicated with too much. Consequently, this would make me abandon the platform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11138,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11137\/revisions\/11138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}