Roku says its ads aren’t meant to be ‘interruptive’ after controversial test

image via theverge.com
image via theverge.com

Rost didn’t say as much directly, but it’s apparent that Roku was keenly aware of the bubbling up of complaints. “Advertisers want to be part of a good experience. They don’t want to be interruptive,” he told me. “We’re always testing. We listen to consumer feedback, we do all of our own A/B testing on the platform. We’re constantly tweaking and trying to figure out what’s going to be helpful for the user experience.”

https://www.theverge.com/tech/654389/roku-2025-event-ads-interview

Roku Tests Showing Ads Before the Home Screen Loads

image via wired.com
image via wired.com

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

https://www.wired.com/story/roku-tests-showing-video-ads-before-the-home-screen-loads/