The secret to Roku’s success: not being cold

These are Lowpass and Janko RoettgersA newsletter about the ever-changing technology and entertainment industry, created for the Seaside subscribers once a week.

About 10 years ago, someone told me that Roku was making “low-cost devices to sell to Walmart customers in flyover countries.” The words were meant to be insulting, mocking a company that seemed to care more about hardware profits than design and technology.

However, I have been thinking about it for years. And as Roku stayed great power in hardware streaming, more 100 million houses last month, I have come to the conclusion that the secret of Roku’s strong power may just be that he embraced and not be cold.

Case in point: the new home screen the company rolled out this week. It’s a long overdue refresh, and, in many ways, it’s the least the company could have done – which means it’ll be a lot better.

Content – forward, but not too much

Companies that make streaming dongles and smart TVs have been pushing the concept of streaming in front of users. The bottom line: People don’t want to install an app, browse rows and rows of thumbnails, and then repeat the same thing in the next app if they don’t find what they want to watch right away.

Promotional videos instead give you ideas for personal movies and home movies. Add tiles to quickly find the next episodes you like, and you have a feature that makes it easy to watch TV without wasting time searching.

Amazon was the first to embrace the futuristic look with its Fire TV devices more than a decade ago. Google followed suit with Android TV, adding to the concept when it relaunched its social media platform as Google TV. Today, almost every smart TV platform has futuristic features.

The exception, until now: Roku. The company has added some dedicated panels to its sidebar over the years, but has largely kept the home screen to a collection of app icons.

This week, that’s changing, but in a similar way to Roku. “I don’t think ours looks like the others,” says Preston Smalley, who led the redesign as Roku’s VP of viewers. “Yes, it has content. Yes, it has a destination to look at, but I think it’s still very different.”

While others go with large, wall-to-wall art to display individual shows (and the occasional ad), Roku’s new home screen starts with a small, customizable section, followed by rows of tiles that closely resemble the old Roku home screen: apps, destinations, shows, all arranged in a tight grid, followed by a small “your options” section, followed by rows of tiles. which are very similar to the old Roku home screen: apps, destinations, shows, all organized in this tight group, followed by a small section, with a small competition on the side, enough Roku also wants to make more money with the home screen).

It all seems obvious and familiar. Boring, perhaps, and a little more confusing than the big and bold screens used by Fire TV and Google TV with their big screens and screens. Existing Roku customers will feel right at home.

The logical end of cord cutting

Roku has been at the forefront of one important thing: While some of its competitors have tried to make good with the cable industry, Roku has embraced cutting cords from day one. The company also realized early on that cutting cords was a cost-saving measure. It bought its equipment right, partnered with consumer electronics makers like TCL to expand into smart TVs, and has been betting big on free, ad-supported TV for years.

Roku executives also early on made a clear prediction about this: If all TV is going to be broadcast one day, then everyone will need to have access — including millions of people who aren’t tech-savvy.

Smalley knows the world of late adopters well. Prior to Roku, he worked for nearly ten years at Comcast. Doing research using a cable company was an eye opener. “I used to go to people’s houses,” he remembers. “Some people can have remote controls where they press the buttons and try to make it look like a Roku remote.”

Attempts to stop weapons continue in the advertising years. “You have people who maybe only use a few apps. Maybe their kid just comes in and fixes it so all their apps are there. Unfortunately, not everyone has a love child.

That’s why the new Roku home screen has a “quick access” section for frequently used apps at the top of the screen. This section will automatically adjust based on usage, and can even include tiles to adjust your HDMI port if you’re one of those people who frequently switches to a game console. “You have different people looking for different things,” says Smalley. “But you want to have something that works (for everyone).”

Roku City may be coming to mobile

One notable feature of the new Roku home is a feature called Your Daily Scoop that aims to offer viewing recommendations inspired by the zeitgeist. Think awards, holidays, pop culture moments, yes, even the news – and watchdogs. “We don’t talk about war,” says Smalley. “It’s a well-chosen situation.”

It’s still operating on autopilot, so there may be downsides. More importantly, it highlights one of Roku’s weaknesses: the lack of first-party information that doesn’t come from people who use Roku devices. Google uses search to inform what it shows on Google TV, and Amazon can use Alexa to control Fire TV features.

Roku is having none of that, and is trying to fix it with third-party data. “We’re using some LLMs (to find out) what people want,” says Smalley.

However, Roku also has a few features that the competition lacks. One example: Roku City, a screen storage company they became a cult during the plagueit now has its own program icon. “We wanted to provide a way for (people) to start (without) having to wait 10 minutes before that happens,” says Smalley.

It’s a small step, but one that aligns with the company’s efforts to turn Roku City into a destination and revenue generator. In recent years, it has merged advertising campaigns, a small gameand live concert in the form of a purple city. The next step could be mobile expansion. “We have 34 million people who use our mobile app every month,” says Smalley. “We’re looking for the right way to bring more Roku City to mobile.”

If this happens, it can be very easy – and surprisingly successful.