Roku is planning to introduce video ads to the home screen and is also testing other video ad formats, the company has confirmed.

Roku TVs and streaming boxes are cheap for a reason: You are the product.

The company has now revealed a strategy to further "monetize" your time on the Roku platform, as highlighted by Ars Technica and The Streamable.

- "On the home screen today, there's the premier video app we call the marquee ad and that ad traditionally has been a static ad. We're going to add video to that ad. So that'll be the first video ad that we add to the home screen. That will be a big change for us," Roku CEO Anthony Wood disclosed during Roku's Q1 2024 earnings call.


Video, interactive, shoppable
This is in addition to the interactive and shoppable ad formats that are also set to appear on Roku's home screen in the near future, according to the company.

During the earnings call, Wood confirmed that the company is also experimenting with "other types of video ad units."


 Roku users will soon start seeing video ads on their home screen. Photo: Roku

While Roku plans to increase the number of ads, it also aims to enhance the user experience on the home screen. The company highlighted "AI-driven" content recommendations. However, as many users may have realized yb now, "recommendations" on TV platforms often serve as disguised content ads from partners.

 Also read: Roku explores showing ads over your TV's HDMI inputs

Roku is not alone in introducing video ads to its home screen. Amazon's Fire TV and Google's Google TV have also begun displaying video ads on the home screen, as reported in our articles from November 2023 and January 2024, while LG and Samsung are incorporating ads into webOS and Tizen, despite consumers paying full price for their high-end TV models. Apple TV 4K does not display ads on the home screen. You can read FlatpanelsHD's in-depth review here.

- Source: Ars Technica, The Streamable