(Credit: Michael Kan/PCMag)
If you own a Roku TV or device, get ready to see more ads. The company is preparing to maximize the Roku home screen’s ability to show ads, including video commercials.
“Every day, the Roku home screen reaches US households with nearly 120 million people. This significant reach creates a lot of opportunity. I see many ways to improve the user experience while also growing monetization for Roku,” CEO Anthony Wood said in an earnings call.
Users already see ads on the right side of the Roku home screen. But they're currently just still images. Wood now says the company is preparing to show video commercials in that space.
"That will be the first video ad...we add to the home screen, [which is] a big change for us,” Wood said during the earnings call.
Wood didn't say if the ads will play with sound, but Roku is "also testing other types of video ad units, looking at other experiences we can add to the home screen that would be where we can innovate more video advertising," he said.
(Credit: Roku)In addition to video-based ads, Roku is preparing to serve up more personalized ads on the Home Screen. These ads will focus on streaming services and video-on demand content, and have already been appearing through a new “Recommended” row on the home screen.
“So there's lots of ways we're working on enhancing the home screen to make it more valuable to viewers but also increase the monetization on the home stream,” Woods added.
The increased ad load could annoy consumers, but Roku’s CEO says the changes promise to help consumers find more useful content. In return, the company hopes the new ad formats will further increase sales. In Q1, the company’s revenues reached $882 million, up 19% year-over-year.
“There's just a lot of untapped opportunity there,” Woods said. “Video ad is just one of the areas of opportunity."