[Updated] Roku Tests Showing Users Auto-playing Video Ads on Startup

Roku has started experimenting with a more intrusive ad format on its devices, and users are unsurprisingly not happy. Following multiple reports from users seeing auto-playing video ads when they start their Roku devices, the company confirmed that these startup ads, which are skippable, are just an experiment and part of the company’s product development process.

Speaking with Ars Technica, a Roku spokesperson said that the company’s activity “has and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content, and our first-rate advertising products.” The company’s representative added that “Our recent test is just the latest example, as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.”

There’s nothing “delightful” about seeing a video ad right before accessing the home screen of any device. Still, Amazon also tried that before on Fire TV devices. If Roku started adding video ads to the home screen of its devices last year in addition to the existing static ads, the company risks alienating its users by showing them even more intrusive ads.

Just like Amazon, Roku sells cheap streaming players and smart TVs with razor thin margins, and ads and user tracking are an essential part of the company’s business model. Roku even recently obtained a patent for a technology designed to to show ads over anything you plug into your TV. While Roku has yet to implement this technology into its products, the company is clearly looking at ways to increase its advertising revenue.

As of today, smart TVs running Android TV/Google TV or proprietary platforms like LG’s WebOS or Samsung’s Tizen are also showing ads to users, but your mileage may vary. Unfortunately, the only ad-free smart TV experience you can get today seems to be with an Apple TV.

Update March 19 6PM ET: I previously wrote that these auto-playing startup ads were not skippable, and that was incorrect. A Roku representative reached out to me to clarify that there’s a close button allowing Roku users to skip these startup ads, and I’ve updated my post to reflect that.