- Roku tests ads that appear at start -up
- Users say that the sound is on and that some cannot be jumped
- Roku wishes to add more advertising to its platform
Some Roku owners promise that “my Roku devices will be in the trash” if it goes forward with its latest idea of publication of ads: showing you an ad before arriving on the home screen.
Unhappy users turn to online forums to describe what is happening and express their dissatisfaction. As an R / Roku poster explained, “I just turned on my Roku and I obtained an ad without a skipable for a film before arriving on the ordinary Roku home screen.” Other Redditors have confirmed that they also obtained advertisements (via ARS Technica).
The announcement that causes the concern was for Moana 2 (which has just been launched on Disney +), whose users say they have played automatically with the sound when the Roku device was started.
Roku confirmed that this is not an accident, but it is not necessarily a permanent addition.
Undeorable advertisement attack
As Ars Technica reports, Roku has confirmed that automatic play advertisements are supposed to be there as part of an experience. Roku “A and will always require continuous tests and innovation in design, navigation, content and our first -rate advertising products.”
According to Roku, sticking an intrusive ad before the home screen is part of “offering a delicious and simple user experience”. But from what I saw online, users are far from delighted: for some, it’s a step too far on an already heavy platform. And Roku could go further: as we have pointed out several times, Roku’s vision for the future of television is more sale.
Roku is not alone here, of course. The thin beneficiaries of the razor during the sale of the best televisions mean that many manufacturers consider advertising and user data as absolutely vital means to generate money on an increasingly competitive market.
But Roku seems to be particularly aggressive about advertising, and it is at the stage of the upheaval of certain customers who believe that the platform degrades a product for which they have already paid. As an owner of Roku said in R / Roku: “Why should everything start sucking so much?”
