698

Own a Roku TV or streaming device? You're about to see a lot more ads on your home screen (www.techradar.com)

submitted 9 months ago by AnActOfCreation@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world

272 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Ugh. Roku was one of the platforms with fewer ads.

Roku will be adding more ads to the home screens of its devices and TVs in the near future.
The ads will be interactive and 'shoppable' and will cover a range of industries, including restaurants and cars.
Roku already has a significant amount of ads on its home screen, and it is unclear if users will be able to change their preferences for the new ads.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Rookeh@startrek.website 32 points 9 months ago

Google is already doing this with their default Android TV launcher. I tolerated their home screen 'recommendations' for a while as they occasionally highlighted something interesting to watch, but one day I switched on the TV and was greeted with a huge advert banner for a fucking watch on the home screen.

At that point I spent a few hours setting up FLauncher on all my ATV devices.

[-] Sendbeer@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

I did the exact same thing. Also blocked androidtv updates in case Google starts pulling shit regarding custom launchers.

It's gross how ads are being crammed in every little nook of our lives. Not like the ShieldTv was a cheap device either.

Pretty sad to see Roku going down the same road. Guess forcing a third of the screen devoted to ads just wasn't enough.

[-] iggy@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

I prefer projectivy launcher. It's got a few more features and feels a little more polished.

[-] eco_game@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 9 months ago

This launcher looks super cool, does anyone bychance know if it works on FireTVs? I was ok with the FireTV launcher up until they made it autoplay ads with sound everytime you turn the damn thing on.

[-] DrDeadCrash@programming.dev 3 points 9 months ago

Same! I recently found this "feature" can be disabled in the preferences, along with a bunch of creepy tracking options.

[-] Rookeh@startrek.website 2 points 9 months ago

I can't speak from experience as I don't own any Amazon devices, but I have read reports that it seems to work fine with the FireTV variant of Android.

The dev has only tested it against Chromecast with Google TV, with that said I'm using it on a Shield TV and a Shield Pro and it runs fine on both.

[-] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 3 points 9 months ago

That's the reason I've been using Roku. I couldn't stand all the suggestions and ads on my Google TV. If Roku does that, too, then there's nothing good to distinguish them.

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

I like that I can install custom apps on Google TV, but Roku beats them in UI IMO.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago

Chromecast 2. No ads ever. Just send stuff from your device to your TV.

this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024

698 points (98.5% liked)

Technology

59197 readers

953 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS