Channels & viewing

Are your Roku channels not working? Find troubleshooting tips for adding/removing channels, logging in, authentication, activation, playback issues, and more.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Ello2022
Roku Guru

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

Commercials are commercials. Just like cable or satellite. No different. There is no way to customize the commercials you see on the Roku channel. Just like there isn’t any way to customize the commercials you see on cable or satellite. Are you talking about the Roku channel live TV? 

0 Kudos
fluke
Roku Guru

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

@Ello2022 wrote: 
 

Commercials are commercials. Just like cable or satellite. No different. There is no way to customize the commercials you see on the Roku channel. Just like there isn’t any way to customize the commercials you see on cable or satellite. Are you talking about the Roku channel live TV? 

It is odd you even bother ending with that question. The statement "commercials are commercials" seems to suggest you have taken the position it does not matter if it was live TV or an on-demand streaming program.  I think most people that have signed up for using this forum have some fundamental idea of the difference between pure replication of a live broadcast and on-demand streaming/advertising.

So, "commercials are commercials" is a gross oversimplification to the point of being utterly incorrect.  For on-demand ads in in the Roku Channel, we are passively "choosing" the ads by agreeing to a system that use metadata about us to auction off the ad. 

Roku explains in their privacy policy:

We use your information to measure and understand the reach, viewership, and effectiveness of advertising, and provide advertising analytics and reporting. We also help advertisers and advertising partners reach the desired audience and understand and improve their ad campaigns. We associate the browsers and devices (such as smartphones, tablets, streaming players, connected TVs, and computers) used by the same individual or household for purposes of advertising to that individual or household on different browsers or devices. This allows, for example, ads you see on your tablet to be based on activities you engaged in on your Roku TV.
 

Roku give some more technical details of some of the information they collect:

...   MAC address, IP address, operating system type and version, browser type and language, Wi-Fi network name and connection data, and information about other devices connected to the same network. We may also gather the WiFi MAC addresses ...

I really like that last part.  There are databases that help narrow down most locations to around 150-300 feet give a Wifi MAC address.  Seems a little bit creepy and yet Roku actually has one of the *MORE* customer *FRIENDLY* privacy policies in comparison to some of their competitors.  In some cases the IP address can also narrow down the zip code.

So, once it is acknowledged the level of our passive participation in the on-demand ads, the next obvious question is would things be improved if customers could also take an *active* participation in the same on-demand ads being re-displayed again later.  For that I refer back to Roku's own privacy policy which explains this aggressive metadata is being collected to help improve ad campaigns.

It appears something about that metadata indicated I might be interested in the same exact 30-second spot flashing racist imagery played three times in a row for 90 seconds.  This was very wrong.  But that does not appear to ever make it into the analytics as it kept happening again and again.

This issue has *NEVER* come up when watching an ATSC live broadcast over antenna, a QAM live broadcast over cable or an internet stream of a live broadcast.  It seems to have been an issue specific to Roku's on-demand ad platform.

By making the metadata strictly passive, Roku is not really living up to helping improve the ad campaign, I continue to get frustrated and the advertiser gets a lower ROI.  Letting me take an active role in the metadata for ad presentations would improve the analytics for Roku and their advertisers (along with giving me a better overall experience).  As long as Roku is taking so much metadata about me, why not offer me a chance to opt-in to providing a just little bit more about the ads I have a strong negative reaction to (and I might even be willing to choose a multiple choice response as to why).

But getting there won't be accomplished with stating an one dimensional view of "commercials are commercials."  It just is not helpful.

peterparker
Streaming Star

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

Roku has decided they should be dictating ad content. Some of what flashes across the screen I would NEVER want my kids to see, and thats just the splash screen, not even the actual movie.

This platform has just become a HUGE mess, and very one-sided!

Hate that they have also removed many very good apps bc they are supposedly "not certified" ("developers, pay us even more money!"), then when the app goes all the way through the certification process, they sit on the final application and never approve it. It doesnt help that it's VIDANGEL, the very best content filtering service ever generated, using higly professional developers to create and test it to prevent buggy issues or system problems. There is NO REASON it should not be certified and added to the app TODAY.

Apple TV or Amazon Fire, anyone?

0 Kudos
fluke
Roku Guru

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

Ok, spiderman.  *sigh*  You seem to be web slinging to make some leaps of logic.  Overall, I think there is some worth while discussion to be had about Vidangel, but I'm not sure this thread is the best target audience for the message you are trying to deliver.

The main reason I say this is Vidangel does not claim to be a solution to addressing questionable ads across an entire platform.  It does not even to provide a free ad-revenue based option.  It is strictly a $7.99 per month service.  Even after paying that, it does not replace all the options on free ad-revenue channels.  Not everything on Roku Channels, Tubi,  IMDbTV, PLEX, Crunchyroll, etc. is available on Vidangel.

If you want to have a conversation about if Roku should provide the option to get Roku Channels without ads by paying $7.99 per month for it, I would be open to that discussion.  However, that does not seem to be your point at all.

I understand your frustration about Roku's policy on unlisted channels having changed.  I agree that is disappointing.  Given the nature of how things are going with the USA's DMCA, I think this is more a case of Roku having to respond to circumstances than wanting to make life harder for some of its users.  Instead, Roku has given us support for Miracast and Airplay.  Through that it should be possible to project Vidangel and other services through Roku.

As to Amazon being your "friend" on either the ad issue or Vidangel issue, I am baffled how anyone would reach that conclusion.  They have their own issues when it comes to advertising and trying to steer the customers it what to watch/buy/etc.  There is also no concept of hidden channels in the Amazon Fire TV app store.  Some updates to Fire OS has from time to time made it hard to sideload apps.

For the Vidangel issue (if that is the major show stopper item for you), then Apple TV might be preferable.  I again don't think this is related to this thread.  Personally, I'm not ever going to buy a streaming tv device in which the official remote costs *SIXTY DOLLARS* to replace.  But you do you.

0 Kudos
peterparker
Streaming Star

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

Well, no worries if you dont agree--a ridiculous number of current or former ROKU customers do. Many have now walked away as a result of the loss of VIDANGEL.  I happen to have both problems w ROKU: Horrible ads for shows and ideas on the main Home screen I wish my kids could unsee, and a lack of VIDANGEL in the app store. 

Sidenote to DBDUKES and anyone else who wants to argue: VIDANGEL has done everything they need to do to show good faith and prove they are working to generate value to people who need and want it. They have fixed/completed ALL legal issues, and their customers are so loyal that a huge number are with me and plan to never give another dime for a ROKU product if the app is not added back.

0 Kudos
Strega
Roku Guru

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

For 40 years now, I have been reading messages on the internet where people use the "all my friends" or "thousands of people (who don't post)" or…  and the whole: "they're going to lose billions of customers" arguments.  But companies rarely remove something completely randomly.  They surely studied the issue, made an estimate of how many customers they might lose, and decided they could live with that.  My guess is that the total number of people who have complained or left since private channels were removed is well below their lowest estimate of the number they might lose, and they are feeling quite relieved. 

peterparker
Streaming Star

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

Im thinking 36 pages of posts (these are only the customers who know about this discussion board and choose to post instead of just walking away without comment) in the following link might argue that I have 1/2 a clue about the issue:

https://community.roku.com/t5/Channel-Issues-Questions/Roku-no-longer-supporting-VidAngel/m-p/788276...

And no, like "many other customers", I do not trust that the company producing ROKU products did any reasonable testing or inspection of the VIDANGEL app before deleting them and not adding them back.

0 Kudos
Strega
Roku Guru

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

Yes, that's one of the threads I have seen.  I see only 10 posts per page so 360 posts divided by 60 million Roku users = 0.0006% of Roku users.  But wait!  Some of those are the same person posting multiple times!  And some are actually not complaining at all.  Many are explaining or debating. The actual number complaining is much smaller than even that! I suspect no one in Roku guessed that low.  (But of course some people do leave without posting.)

Heck, I'm just a random guy but I would have SWAG'd 1-10% loss. (probably mostly from porn channel users.)

So, sorry, but that thread doesn't tell anyone much.

My ISP has a thread with people complaining about their data cap.  Every time it gets to 5000-10,000 posts or so, they close the current one and start a new one, to keep it "manageable." Other than that, they pretty much ignore it – including the people saying they have left or are leaving.  They only have about half as many customers as Roku, so those posts amount to ~0.03% for them.  (Though, there as well, there are repeat posters.)  They already state on their web pages that 5% go over the cap so they're already accepting that some fraction of that 0.03% actually makes good on their threat to leave.)

Ello2022
Roku Guru

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

@Strega  Thank you. It’s so funny how people post in saying “Look at how many people have the same issues or same complaint”. But 90% of Roku users wouldn’t even bother posting on here. People will always complain about something. People complain daily about the Roku channel. ITS FREE. Who cares. People also do not understand how commercials or ads work. Those are same people who think Google is spying on them. That’s what tinfoil hats are for 🤣

0 Kudos
peterparker
Streaming Star

Re: Reporting ads that are biased/misinforming/irrelevant

What are you talking abo? I dont use the Roku Channel at all. I specifically described the images advertising content on the HOME PAGE. 

Did you click the link I posted?    https://community.roku.com/t5/Channel-Issues-Questions/Roku-no-longer-supporting-VidAngel/m-p/788276...

As I noted, LOTS OF PEOPLE have a problem over the VIDANGEL app being removed. It was the ONLY reason I bought a ROKU device in the first place, and others on this forum reported the same.

Why would you or Strega or DBDUKES or anyone else marginalize mine or anyone elses issues???

0 Kudos