The Roku OS home screen now has large, permanent ads

At a receiver call in February, Roku CEO Anthony Wood he said that he thought the new home screen, which was being tested at the time, “could increase revenue over time, whether it’s getting viewers to sign up for subscriptions or watching more ads.”

Other changes

The new Roku OS home screen also has a small menu on the left with icons to change the text. In the middle are the “Top Picks for You” tiles above the rows of “Quick Access” tiles. The former, according to Roku’s announcement, is “a personal channel that suggests and displays what’s trending and relevant based on your interests,” where “no two people will see the same mix.” Quick Access, meanwhile, uses AI to suggest “frequently used programs and shortcuts”.

“One of the things we’ve found is that not a lot of people have customized the app,” Smalley said Fast Company. They can move to the end of this long list. So, what we wanted to do was put it all together in a way that makes sense to you.”

Other updates include a section called Destinations, which Roku said are “curated hubs (for) different genres,” such as comedy, sports, and movies, with content on different streaming platforms.

However, some users are disappointed with the new home screen.

“I don’t need opinions! I know what I want to watch. Posting ads for shit you think I want to watch is the fastest way to get me to stop watching. That sucks,” said a Roku user who goes by Kruse on Reddit. it was sent today.

One thing that would be useful but not included in the update would be a simple way to select the most recently watched content from all the programs on the home page, so you can go back to watch it. In fact, Roku’s home updates seem to prefer to innovate and use AI, rather than recent history, to try to predict what you might want to see.

Roku TVs and streaming devices in the US will start seeing the new home screen today. “These changes will come automatically,” Roku said.