Forum Discussion

2gypsies's avatar
2gypsies
Newbie
3 years ago

Why Am I Seeing Non English Commercials? Stop!!!

Where can I establish that I have no interest in commercials forced to me in spanish. Now, I am not a bigot, my kids are 50% PR... but they and I are tired of paying for a service which is pushed in ...
Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
3 years ago

Hi 2gypsies

Welcome to the Roku Community!

If you're seeing non-English commercials on your Roku device and you want to change it, here are some steps you can take:

  • Check your language preferences: Make sure that your Roku account settings are set to your preferred language. To check this, go to your account settings on the Roku website and make sure that the language is set to English.
  • Disable personalized ads: You can try disabling personalized ads, which may reduce the likelihood of seeing commercials that are not relevant to your interests or preferences. To do this, go to your Roku settings menu and select "Privacy" > "Advertising" > "Limit Ad Tracking."
  • Change your location: If you're living in an area with a large non-English speaking population, you may see more commercials in other languages. Consider changing your location to a region or city where the primary language is English.

It's important to note that some streaming services, such as Netflix, may have their own advertising policies and settings that are separate from your Roku preferences. If you're seeing non-English commercials on a particular streaming service, you may need to adjust your settings directly within that service.


Warm Regards,
Lianna

  • iseawitch's avatar
    iseawitch
    Reel Rookie
    3 years ago

    Yeah non of that helped. I too am about to abandon the Roku Chanel and I speak Spanish. I just don’t want to see commercials in Spanish. All the irrelevant drug ads are bad enough

  • Markleg's avatar
    Markleg
    Newbie
    3 years ago

    Hello,

    I did the first two things but can’t find where to change my location. I am still getting commercials on French.  Anyone know where to change location?

    thanks

    • RokuJohnB's avatar
      RokuJohnB
      Community Moderator
      3 years ago

      Hi Markleg,

      Thanks for keeping us posted on this issue in the Roku Community!

      We understand that you wanted some assistance in changing the location of your Roku. We will be glad to help you. Please follow these steps:

      1. Press Home on your Roku TV remote.
      2. Scroll and select Settings.
      3. Select System.
      4. Select the zip code and enter it.
      5. Press OK to update the zip code.

      If the issue still persists, please keep us posted.

      All the best,

      John

      • vike's avatar
        vike
        Streaming Star
        2 years ago

        These "remedies" are ridiculous, not least because they don't work.  Roku is annoying users and wasting advertiser's dollars by failing to provide a simple option to restrict streaming and banner advertisements to English-only.  I'll acknowledge that what YouTube, Max, etc. may choose to show you on ad-supported tiers is largely up to them, but a) they're at least partly dependent on targeting information provided by Roku, and b) depending on carriage terms, some ads may actually be Roku's anyway.

        I generally avoid ad-supported channels regardless, but even on my main menus Roku keeps showing me ads for the Spanish-language Vix channel, apparently just because I live in an area with a large Hispanic population.  This seems deeply stupid on Vix's part, but if they're not being given any better control over ad placement than we're being given on what's being shown to us, the real culprit is Roku, and the hard fact is they are completely ripping off Vix.  I'm only annoyed, while Roku is taking money from these advertisers to present advertisements to customers that don't understand or want them.  For companies like Vix this is just a waste of money, but for general advertisers just trying to reach a Hispanic audience, their ads are actually turning off many Anglophone users who may resent being excluded from brand messaging or promotions.

        A supposed advantage of streaming video advertising is that it can be more narrowly targeted to relevant audiences.  This ongoing failure to target messages to language-appropriate audiences exposes that to be a fantasy, if not a downright lie.  If you can't even show an audience ads in a language they actually understand, how good can your "targeting" possibly be?