this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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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 [email protected] to c/[email protected]
273 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.
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[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

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