Finally got the latest and "greatest" software update and was immediately shown a video ad for Mr. & Mrs. Smith from Tubi (IIRC?) autoplaying on my homescreen - luckily without sound, though I'm sure that'll come soon.
That this can't be disabled this is anti-user; consider someone with a travel Roku device they use on metered connections. You're using my bandwidth to inflate ad-watch counts, DAU and retention numbers to convince investors they should give you more money, and in turn using that to convince ad-buyers they should give you more money, all why annoying the people who use your devices. This stinks, and everyone knows it stinks even if they don't know they know it.
I'm moving my Rokus behind Pi-hole DNS. Not sure it'll help with anything at all, but if it doesn't I think I'm done with this company. There's also transparent proxying, packet capture/rewriting, DNS/TLS MITM, etc. I know all the tricks, I'd just prefer not to have to do IT cat and mouse while trying to watch a video.
I understand things like The Economy and Publicly Traded Companies and Shareholders, mostly because I'm not a moron, but short-term thinking is going to lead to long-term loss. I know my anecdotal hater-y on a community forum won't move any needles anywhere but, as a user of your devices since ~2009, Roku really screwed the pooch. Replace your CEO. Replace the board. Go to confession. Go to therapy. Corporations are people, right? Start with "we did too many ads" and work your way up to "we became a de facto streaming device monopoly and destroyed the user trust we built over the course of a decade and a half in about a year." This might take a few sessions but I assure you it'll be worth it.
Roku is not Apple (obviously!), you do not have a fully captive audience tied to your ecosystem, and shoving ads into peoples' eyes goes beyond just annoying. You are a gateway to the content I actually want to look at, and an easily replaceable one. It's pathetic and embarrassing to the point where Rokus now feel like "baby's first streaming device" toys, and I expect better. I shouldn't, that's just capitalism baby, but I mostly gave up on Apple & Microsoft, and I'm trying to use Google less. Quitting Roku will be a cinch, comparatively. It's not a choice I want to make but my hand has been forced.
Maybe this is all a push to eventually introduce a Roku subscription service, but if it is, it needs to be "no ads" not "fewer ads," which I'm betting Roku can't do contractually; I'd wager any hypothetical premium service offered by Roku will essentially be 2017-level status quo, and that's basically protection money for not seeing ads. You lot really built up a nice racket, huh?
But maybe you can also shove bs AI nonsense into The New Roku Experience With Extra Ads? That's a really great idea. I expect it by the end of the year, so get on it. Chop chop!
