Roku takes ads to the next level by auto-playing them at startup

Smart TVs and their content platforms promised to be better than cable TV, thanks to their promise of a clean, mostly ad-free user experience. However, most smart TV experiences eventually get littered with ads in the form of content recommendations. We’ve seen ads reach the home screen of TVs, where they become more challenging to avoid. Now, Roku is testing what looks like the next step of unavoidable ads: ads right after startup!

Reddit reports from Roku owners suggest they are getting automatically playing video ads for the recent “Moana 2” movie right when they turn on their Roku device, even before they can reach the Roku home screen. The ads have an option to close them, but some users appear to have not seen the option. Since the ads come up right at startup, there isn’t much you can do to avoid the ad other than letting it play a little and closing it.