Roku Developer Program

[NanoZim]

I'm finishing up a game for the Roku box, and plan to release it soon. However, first I have a couple questions:

1. Are there any guidelines or restrictions when it comes to including advertising in Roku apps?

2. Similarly, are there any restrictions on what sort of video content can be made available through Roku apps?

I'm toying with the idea of advertising various web videos within the game app. Maybe offering a clickable link above the gameplay area. Nothing explicit, but possibly targeting a somewhat-older/mature audience.

So are there any rules that govern what & how I'm allowed to promote? Or is it pretty much anything goes on Roku? 😉

[jbrave]

When you publish your app, you can specify the type of content in your app, which I assume is there to allow filtering. You can also choose to publish privately so only those you send the channel code to can view it, there are a few "mature" apps that are distributed that way. If you downloaded the Developer kit read the RokuDvp-ChannelPackagingAndPublishing pdf.

- Joel

[TheEndless]

As far as I'm aware, Roku doesn't allow any explicit content in public channels, but there are few restrictions on private channels.

On a side note, be prepared for having your account renamed... the "Roku" prefix is usually reserved for actual Roku employees.

[NanoZim]

"jbrave" wrote:
When you publish your app, you can specify the type of content in your app, which I assume is there to allow filtering.

Ah, you're probably right, that makes sense.

"TheEndless" wrote:
As far as I'm aware, Roku doesn't allow any explicit content in public channels, but there are few restrictions on private channels.

I'm aiming for a public channel, and the Developer Agreement definitely restricts obscenity, pornography, and profanity there. But I can't find anything about embedding advertising links. Theoretically, one could link to a children's cartoon video in such an ad, get the app approved, and then dynamically change any web-linked files to something extremely explicit without Roku's immediate knowledge.

Not that I'M going to be doing that! I don't want to do anything to get my app in trouble! But I can see how ads, which intrinsically link to external media sources, might need to be restricted in some way.

"TheEndless" wrote:
On a side note, be prepared for having your account renamed... the "Roku" prefix is usually reserved for actual Roku employees.

Yeah, I didn't realize that when I chose it. :oops: It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to change it, if anyone from Roku wants to do that for me?

[kbenson]

"RokuMe" wrote:

I'm aiming for a public channel, and the Developer Agreement definitely restricts obscenity, pornography, and profanity there. But I can't find anything about embedding advertising links. Theoretically, one could link to a children's cartoon video in such an ad, get the app approved, and then dynamically change any web-linked files to something extremely explicit without Roku's immediate knowledge.

Not that I'M going to be doing that! I don't want to do anything to get my app in trouble! But I can see how ads, which intrinsically link to external media sources, might need to be restricted in some way.

I imagine the users will be good police in this respect. If any channel is displaying offensive content, I'm sure the forum will have plenty of posts on it. At that point Roku could require the channel developer fix their problem or if egregious enough possibly remove the channel from user systems, if they have the capability.

[Anonymous]

If you want to change your username, PM me with what you want it changed to.

Regarding content, yeah, basically, we won't approve public channels that have adult content (think Showtime/Cinemax late night as the limit).