Roku Is Experimenting With a New Way to Make You Watch Ads
Advertising is an inevitable part of modern life. They support both free and discounted services, for better or worse, and unless you pay for premium services like YouTube Premium or expensive Netflix tiers , it’s likely that you’ll encounter these ads one way or another.
But just because advertising is deeply integrated into our digital devices doesn’t mean it has a free pass in all situations. As Ars Technica reports , it looks like Roku is pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable by experimenting with placing ads when you first boot up your streaming device.
Moana 2 Ads Coming to Rokus at Launch
One Reddit user noticed the change when he turned on his Roku and was forced to watch an ad for the movie before being able to simply access the Roku home screen. This wasn’t an ad placed before another movie or show: Roku simply didn’t allow the user to access the device they paid for without first seeing the ad.
The user shared his experience on the r/Roku subreddit , where frustrated Roku owners confirmed that the same thing was happening on their devices. Several users have received Moana ads after turning on their Roku devices, and some have threatened to ditch their Rokus due to the situation. Someone even said, “My Roku devices will be trash” if the company continues this way. The same thing happened in another thread , where users threatened to quit their Rokus or change brands for streaming purposes. Someone even wrote: “I was indifferent to Moana . But now I’m going to hate this movie with all my might.” (Disney may want to rethink its marketing strategy.)
According to Ars Technica, the ad should have a close button, although some users don’t seem to see it when it appears on their end. The publication reached out to Roku, which confirmed that the advertising is intentional, but not yet official: at the launch of Roku OS there will be no permanent advertising at the moment. Looks like this is just an experiment. If so, then they are surely receiving valuable feedback from customers.
I understand why Roku users are angry. It’s one thing to show static ads on your home screen, but even that feels wrong on the device you paid for. But preventing you from using your streaming device until you watch an ad? The future doesn’t look so bright.
Your Roku is designed for advertising
While this experiment is quite anti-consumer, it’s not surprising coming from Roku. The company, like many others, collects your data when you use its devices and uses that data to, you guessed it, show you ads.
Roku is focusing heavily on advertising as a business model , exploring ways to not only put as many ads on the home screen as possible, but also potentially show you ads when you pause content on a third-party device connected to your Roku TV. Yes.
You expect advertising in exchange for free content, but we’ve moved away from that business model a long time ago. Advertising and data collection now subsidize devices and services. Your Roku Express costs just $30 (or less, depending on the deal) not because that’s what the hardware costs, but because Roku is counting on you to make more money for the company through your data and advertising. You pay less for the product because you are the product. Now sit down and watch the ad for Moana 2 before you choose something else filled with ads.
Can you prevent ads from appearing when you launch Roku?
There is no official solution to this situation yet, and not all users will see these ads even when booting up their Roku devices. If so, you may be able to do something about it, but it’s difficult.
Roku had static on-screen ads long before the current situation. While this is much less intrusive than running ads, some users want to block all ads on their Roku devices. Since Roku, unlike a computer, doesn’t have a built-in ad blocker, many turn to Pi-hole , a service that can block ads on many sites across different devices.
The problem is that setting up Pi-hole can be a bit technical. The company’s website has a detailed setup guide , so if you’re interested, scan it. Pi-hole claims that when configured correctly, it can block most ads on your devices, so you might notice an ad-free experience on everything you use to access the internet, not just your Roku.