Owners of Roku TVs and media streamers should eventually expect to see video ads appear in the platform’s interface, according to the company’s CEO, Anthony Wood.The Vergehighlights a recent earnings call, during which Wood told investors and the press that the ads will appear in the “premier video app we called the Marquee.” The Marquee is believed to be where Roku OS currently displays static image ads, to the right of app icons.
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It’s not clear when the Marquee changeover might happen. Wood added, however, that Roku is testing “other types of video ad units” too, and trying to “innovate more video advertising” on homescreens. That might be a reference to a Roku patent which proposed letting its ads hijack HDMI input when other devices are paused, but it’s common for major tech companies to patent concepts they have no serious interest in developing, or may have only experimented with before moving on. Apple for example has filed many TV-related patents, but abandoned work on a full-fledged TV set in favor of other projects.
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Roku is working to shore up ad revenue, which is its main source of income despite the brand being best known for add-on streamers, dedicated TV sets, and a licensed software platform. That revenue has slowed in recent years, which prompted hundreds of job cuts in 2022 and 2023, the most recent impacting over 300 people in September.
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So far, Roku has actually been a bastion against homescreen video ads. Amazon and Google are already displaying video ads onFire TVandGoogle TVdevices, respectively, and Apple runs banner trailers when you open its “TV” hub app on an Apple TV 4K. Roku ads are not only static, but occupy a small portion of the screen, at most encouraging you to click on them for more info. It’s relatively easy to ignore them if you’re trying to launch an app, change settings, or search for a movie or show title.
In that respect, another unknown element of Roku’s plans is whether Marquee borders will expand to accommodate video, given that most video ads elsewhere use a 16:9 aspect ratio. Similarly, there’s no word on whether video ads will play automatically, and whether their sound will be on by default. That last point is likely to be the biggest concern for many Roku users – unavoidable sound might not only disrupt quiet rooms, but hurt your ears if you forget to adjust a TV’s volume. For that reason, it’s likely that ads will be silent unless you click or at least highlight them.
Video ads will presumably appear on any device running Roku OS, including licensed TVs from companies like TCL, Hisense, RCA, and Westinghouse. Roku has already started adding an “AI-driven” personalized content row to homescreens, Wood says. Roku OS 13 was released earlier in April, including features like rotating backdrops and automatic picture quality adjustments.
