The IT Nerd

Today, Roku announced the launch of its new Soccer Zone, a dedicated destination that brings live matches and related content together in one place, as Canada prepares to co-host the world’s biggest soccer tournament alongside the United States and Mexico.

The Soccer Zone includes full access to this summer’s live soccer matches available through subscriptions to TSN, RDS, and Crave, in one simple, centralized hub on Roku devices. Fans can also stay up to date with a dynamic scoreboard covering all matches, alongside a leaderboard tracking the tournament’s top goal scorers. Built for a streaming-first audience, the Soccer Zone shows where matches are available across supported apps, so that fans can focus on watching soccer, not searching for it.

Beyond live coverage, the Soccer Zone curates a selection of soccer-related films, series, and documentaries, giving fans more ways to engage with both the tournament and the sport.

The Soccer Zone will be available on all existing and new Roku players, Roku TV models, and Roku Smart Projectors in Canada. Viewers can access it directly from the Roku Home Screen menu, as well as through featured placements on the Home Screen and within the What to Watch destination, ensuring the next game is always within easy reach.

Since the United States announced 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods, many businesses are pivoting due to consumer pressure, to identify and highlight products made in Canada. According to a recent Leger survey in February 2025, almost 81 per cent of Canadians have significantly increased their spending on Canadian – made products.  

Savvy marketers know to capitalize on movements and through the value of F.A.S.T. (Free Ad Supported Technology) and Roku Canada, brands can optimize their ad dollars without duplication via the power of their home screen. By leveraging Roku’s integrated network, Canadian streamers who were previously “unreachable” can be targeted directly. 

Here’s what Ivan Pehar, Ad Sales Director Roku Canada had to say about that:

“Advertisers are already feeling the impact of mounting tariffs with buyer hesitancy and slashed budgets. Marketers need to consider how to maximize their budget to reach their exact audiences through a personalized touch. Roku offers two solutions; directly through the F.A.S.T (Free ad-supported streaming television) network. When clients are paying our partners for ad-free services, you can still reach streamers through Roku’s homescreen. We’ve seen advertisers even leverage a spot in Roku-City to make sure their brand is top of mind.

With 81 per cent of Canadians are looking to spend on Canadian-made products, another effective tool is our use of ACR (automatic content recognition) which allows for a holistic and precise understanding of audience behavior. ACR enables sophisticated targeting, as well as effective retargeting strategies, for precision and optimization at scale. In a time of economic uncertainty, advertisers need to work smarter to reach their targets because every dime counts.”

Now I own a Roku TV and my wife and I have started to see ads from Canadian brands that my wife and I have not heard of before. And some of them we’ll be looking into more. That alone shows that there’s value to this effort by Roku.

As a Roku TV owner. Twice, this story from ARS Technica got my attention this morning. According to the story, owners of Roku devices are seeing ads before the home screen loads:

Reports of Roku customers seeing video ads automatically play before they could view the OS’ home screen started appearing online this week. A Reddit user, for example, posted yesterday: “I just turned on my Roku and got an … ad for a movie, before I got to the regular Roku home screen.” Multiple apparent users reported seeing an ad for the movie Moana 2. The ads have a close option, but some users appear to have not seen it.

When ARS Technica reached out to Roku about this, this is what they said:

When reached for comment, a Roku spokesperson shared a company statement that confirms that the autoplaying ads are expected behavior but not a permanent part of Roku OS currently. Instead, Roku claimed, it was just trying the ad capability out.

Roku’s representative said that Roku’s business “has and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content, and our first-rate advertising products,” adding:

Our recent test is just the latest example, as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.

Here’s some feedback for Roku. Ads that you can’t skip do not make a “delightful and simple user experience.” Now I have not seen this on my Roku TV, but when I asked my wife what she thought of this, her response was that she would tell me to buy a “dumb” TV and put an Apple TV device on it. Apparently Roku users feel the same way:

Most of the comments that Ars Technica has reviewed about the marketing “test” have suggested that customers would get rid of their Roku device if the software continues to force them to watch an ad before getting to the content they actually want to see. A user on Roku’s community forum wrote:

I hope this was a fluke. I trashed all of my Amazon boxes years ago because of this garbage. If it keeps up, my Rokus will be next.

Forum users who worried the change was permanent called the ads “unacceptable” and “intrusive.”

If Roku increases its ad load on customer devices from still images to ads with moving pictures with sound, it will test customers’ limits. Some who have tolerated a static image on a neglected part of their screen may not be as accepting of more distracting ad formats.

“I could accept the static ad on the side. Forcing a loud commercial is awful,” one Redditor wrote.

While I get that Roku is likely in the ad business as I can’t see them making large amounts of money off of selling devices and licensing their tech to TV manufacturers, not to mention getting a cut of streaming revenue, this sort of behaviour is not cool. And Roku would be well advised to rethink this given that there has been user blowback and people like me are talking about this in a negative way. Let’s see if Roku decides to do that.

Roku, the #1 selling TV OS in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, has surpassed 90 million streaming households in the first week of January 2025, a significant milestone as streaming becomes the leading way to watch TV. As the top selling TV OS for over five years in the U.S., Roku is in nearly half of all U.S. broadband households.

In 2024, Roku celebrated 10 years of the Roku TV program and 15 years since the launch of Roku’s first connected streaming device, with millions of units sold to customers globally. Roku TVs and devices deliver an unparalleled viewing experience with a simple and iconic interface, seamless navigation, and a commitment to excellence that sets the standard in streaming. Last year, Roku continued to introduce innovative features that enhance the TV experience, including Backdrops, which transforms any Roku TV into a work of art, and Roku Smart Picture, which automatically optimizes picture quality.

Roku TVs and streaming players offer incredible value for customers with an always expanding content library, including over 500 free live linear channels in the U.S., premium exclusive content, and thousands of free-on demand options. The Roku Channel is a top 10 streaming service in the U.S. and has seen over 80% year-over-year growth. With the increasing number of streaming choices available, Roku’s features like universal search, What to Watch, and Live TV Guide make it easy to find your favorite content across multiple apps, and Roku’s unique content destinations, like the recent Olympics Zone, offer genre-based programming from across the platform in one convenient location, for seamless browsing and discovery.

Roku devices, featuring the Roku Experience, form the foundation of Roku’s platform business, which encompasses advertising and subscriptions. Advertisers love Roku because it’s the lead-in to all TV, featuring unique advertising experiences like Roku City and the Sports Zone. Streaming services appreciate the ability to promote subscriptions on the Roku platform, and Roku Pay simplifies the process for streamers seeking a simple way to sign up for and manage subscriptions through Roku.

Amid the growth in TV streaming, more Canadians than ever before are craving the best of both worlds – on-demand TV, and live and scheduled programming historically associated with cable TV (58 per cent of Canadians, up from 56 per cent in 2023). This is according to Roku’s fifth annual Video on Demand (VOD) Evolution study examining Canadian TV streaming behaviours and trends.

In the past, consumers streamed TV on-demand as a replacement for cable. Today, with new and innovative solutions in streaming programming, those consumers are reverting to more traditional viewing habits, enjoying the convenience of live and scheduled television. On-demand content still makes up a majority of TV streamers’ collective weekly viewing time (57 per cent), but more than a quarter of streamers’ time (28 per cent) continues to be spent with live TV programming.

With ongoing economic challenges, including the rising cost of living, many Canadians are continuing to cut down on discretionary expenses like entertainment. According to the study, 58 per cent of Canadians say the everyday cost of living will be their biggest concern over the next few years. As a result, cost-effective ad-supported TV streaming options have become a mainstay in Canadians’ home entertainment arsenal. According to the survey, 46 per cent of Canadian TV streamers now use at least one ad- supported subscription TV streaming service, compared with just 31 per cent in 2023.

TV streaming advertising trends for 2024

• There’s an uptick in TV streamers taking measurable actions after viewing an ad (74 per cent as compared to 70 per cent in 2023). The top three responses include:
  • Visiting a brand’s website, online store, or app after seeing an ad (42 per cent, up from 38 per cent in 2023).
  • Searching online for more information about the product/brand while continuing to watch TV (41 per cent, up from 36 per cent in 2023).
  • Using Google/Apple Maps to work out where to find the brand, in-store (29 per cent, up from 23 per cent in 2023).
• Canadian TV streamers like creative diversity when it comes to the ads they view, with 82 per cent of TV streamers preferring every ad they view to be different (up from 77 per cent in 2023).
• Over the last five years, more TV streamers (45 per cent) indicate that they are more likely to pay attention to ads that reflect or are relevant to their mood (up from 42 per cent in 2023).
• 43 per cent say they prefer when TV ads match the tone of the program they are watching (up from 38 per cent in 2023).

Who are the “addressable streamers” and how are they watching?

For the first time since the study’s launch in 2019, brands can reach the majority of TV viewers – not just on-demand TV streamers – through ad-supported streaming platforms. For advertisers, these “addressable TV streamers” are incredibly important – and make up more than two-thirds of the TV streaming audience.

• Over half (55 per cent) of TV viewers – up from 44 per cent in 2023 – are now addressable TV streamers (streamers who use ad-supported TV streaming services in an average month).
• Addressable audiences are more engaged than all TV streamers as a whole – eight out of 10 addressable streamers have responded to a TV ad.
• Addressable TV streamers spend more time in an average week with ad-supported on-demand TV streaming compared to all TV viewers (8.9 hours with ads vs 5.9 hours with ads).

Addressable Canadian TV streamers’ content and viewing trends

• On an average weekday, 32 per cent tune into live TV during “breakfast” (6 AM-10 AM).
• 52 per cent are watching on-demand TV streaming with ads, on-demand TV streaming with no ads (50 per cent), and live TV (45 per cent) during “Prime Time” (6 p.m. – 10 p.m.).
• 64 per cent rated crime/investigation/police dramas as their #1 genre preference in the drama genre (up from 59 per cent in 2023).
• 62 per cent rated blockbuster Hollywood movies as their #1 genre preference for general entertainment (up from 59 per cent in 2023).

To learn more about the study, and to download the full report, please click here.

About Roku’s VOD Evolution Canada Survey

Roku’s annual Video on Demand (VOD) Evolution study examined Canadian TV streaming behaviour and trends. This is Roku’s fifth study of Canadians’ TV streaming habits and an update to its research in 2023. Like those, this study is based on the results of an online survey of Canadian adults aged 18+ who use the internet and watched TV at least once in the last month. Fuse Insights research commissioned by Roku took place between June and July 2024, with a sample size of 2,001 Canadians nationally in English and French representative by age, gender, and geography.

One of the advantages that Roku had is that they handled updates to their TVs in the same way that they updated their streaming sticks and streaming boxes. Which is for the most part, any Roku device got the same features and fixes. Up until recently I thought that was good. But back in June that changed when Roku rolled out RokuOS 13. Specifically, the picture quality became worse for some people And after reading the release notes that Roku put out in regards to version 13 of the RokuOS, the answer is pretty clear:

Roku Smart Picture: Roku Smart Picture, available on Roku TV models, automatically improves picture quality dynamically as users stream. Backlighting, uniformity, and colors will automatically adjust based on the type of TV, and Picture Mode will optimize across detected content types including sports, movies, reality, animation, and more. Users can turn on Roku Smart Picture by pressing the * button on a Roku Remote while streaming and clicking into Picture Setting then Picture Mode. This feature will not override Dolby Vision® and HDR10+ formats if they are detected on compatible devices.

Now the key part is that Roku added this:

 Roku Smart Picture, available on Roku TV models, automatically improves picture quality dynamically as users stream.

This is some sort of motion smoothing feature that Roku has implemented. And people who want the best picture quality possible turn off any sort of motion smoothing. They do that because viewing content filmed at 24 or 30fps looks really weird on TVs that run at 120 Hz and above. The insanely smooth motion makes the video almost seem too real. Or put another way, it completely destroys the movie watching experience. But for some reason Roku feels that it should be on. And not only that, in Roku’s infinite wisdom, they have no way to turn it off. Unless you have a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TV from one of Roku’s partners. Or the streaming stick or box detects one of those TVs.

Frankly, this is the single dumbest thing that Roku has ever done. In effect, they’ve managed to anger a significant percentage of their user base for no good reason. Not that angering the people who buy your products is a good thing. In any case, Reddit for example along with Roku’s own community forum has a lot of angry users complaining about this feature, and the fact that you can’t turn it off. What makes the situation worse is that while Roku seems to acknowledge that the issue exists, they don’t seem very interested in fixing it. Or more accurately giving users the ability to turn off motion smoothing. Now there’s an extra twist to this. This feature might have existed before. While I haven’t noted that, and I am not affected negatively by this as I have a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TV,  older threads on Roku’s forums have mentioned similar issues before. Which makes me wonder if this is something that the company has been trying to push at the behest of their hardware partners.

Regardless, even though I am not affected by this, this whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to Roku. I happen to like their products specifically because I perceived it to be an open platform that gave me a fair amount of choice. And their support for things like Apple HomeKit and Fitness+ really fit into my home which is deep down the rabbit hole of the Apple ecosystem. But if Roku is going to do things like this where they force things upon their user base that their users don’t want, then I may hop over to a Google powered TV. While it is Google which means that they are as invasive in terms of collecting data about you as Facebook is, they aren’t known for this level of stupidity. Perhaps Roku might want to keep that in mind and not only find a way to roll back this change, but also find a way to calm their user base before Roku TV’s end up on Craigslist en masse.

Today, Roku and McDonald’s announced that McDonald’s will become Roku City’s first exclusive tenant in Canada later this year. Starting now and continuing to evolve throughout the year, this TV streaming campaign leverages a holistic approach that has been successful across other markets globally and makes McDonald’s the first delivery partner featured in Roku City with a branded building in 2024. This collaboration makes McDonald’s the first Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) to take advantage of new first-to-market action ads and high-impact units within the Roku platform in Canada.

With the majority of Canadians now streaming TV content (75 per cent)*, this partnership will enable TV streamers to engage directly with McDonald’s, and specifically McDelivery through their Roku remote. This improves the TV viewing experience for consumers by making it shoppable, while providing the brand with better engagement and reach.

The partnership launches in tandem today, with its first creative activation, “OK to Text,” which will enable consumers to click “Order Now” using their Roku remote for a McDelivery, as part of their streaming experience. This will then be followed by the release of a dynamic video ad and a marquee home screen ad this spring/summer, with much more planned in the months ahead. To unlock even more value for Canadian TV streamers, and to encourage more viewers to engage with the brand during peak TV streaming hours, the marquee ad will drive customers to a custom branded destination, where they  will be provided with a branded canvas that allows them to “Order Now” while they stream.

To learn more about Roku’s advertising capabilities, please visit: https://advertising.roku.com/en-ca

*Insights from Roku Canada’s 2023 Video-on-Demand (VOD) Evolution study. Based on Canadian internet users.

Roku and TVA Group announced the launch of TVA+ on the Roku platform. Expanding the options for French-language content on the Roku platform in Canada, TVA+ brings an exciting array of entertainment, news, public affairs programming, and sports, including the NHL and MLB, to Roku users.

As TVA’s digital destination, TVA+ includes Quebec’s most popular original content – often surpassing 1 million views – as well as a catalogue of nearly 100 movies and series from here and abroad. TVA+  provides viewers with a wide range of original hit shows like Indéfendable, Si on s’aimait, Alertes, Sorcières, and Révolution, plus popular Quebec adaptations such as La Voix, Sortez-moi d’ici and Chanteurs masqués, the family-friendly variety series that has ranked #1 in Canada (regardless of language) for 3 consecutive seasons. TVA+ also features TVA newscasts, along with several public affairs and sports programs.

Included in TVA+ is TVA Sports en Direct, available with a choice of two subscription packages. TVA Sports en Direct is the exclusive French-language broadcaster of the National Hockey League (NHL), including Saturday night Montreal Canadiens games and all playoff games. The channel also offers Major League Baseball (MLB), WTA tennis, the National Bank Open, the Laver Cup, UFC galas, and much more.

TVA+ is now available on all Roku devices and Roku TVs and can be added to the home screen directly from the Channel Store.