Roku

buying-a-tv-in-2025?-expect-lower-prices,-more-ads,-and-an-os-war.

Buying a TV in 2025? Expect lower prices, more ads, and an OS war.

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“I do fear that the pressure to make better TVs will be lost…”

If you’re looking to buy a TV in 2025, you may be disappointed by the types of advancements TV brands will be prioritizing in the new year. While there’s an audience of enthusiasts interested in developments in tech like OLED, QDEL, and Micro LED, plus other features like transparency and improved audio, that doesn’t appear to be what the industry is focused on.

Today’s TV selection has a serious dependency on advertisements and user tracking. In 2025, we expect competition in the TV industry to center around TV operating systems (OSes) and TVs’ ability to deliver more relevant advertisements to viewers.

That yields a complicated question for shoppers: Are you willing to share your data with retail conglomerates and ad giants to save money on a TV?

Vizio is a Walmart brand now

One of the most impactful changes to the TV market next year will be Walmart owning Vizio. For Walmart, the deal, which closed on December 3 for approximately $2.3 billion, is about owning the data collection capabilities of Vizio’s SmartCast OS. For years, Vizio has been shifting its business from hardware sales to Platform+, “which consists largely of its advertising business” and “now accounts for all the company’s gross profit,” as Walmart noted when announcing the acquisition.

Walmart will use data collected from Vizio TVs to fuel its ad business, which sells ads on the OSes of its TVs (including Vizio and Onn brand TVs) and point-of-sale machines in Walmart stores. In a December 3 statement, Walmart confirmed its intentions with Vizio:

The acquisition… allows Walmart to serve its customers in new ways to enhance their shopping journeys. It will also bring to market new and differentiated ways for advertisers to meaningfully connect with customers at scale and boost product discovery, helping brands achieve greater impact from their advertising investments with Walmart Connect—the company’s retail media business in the US.

In 2025, buying a Vizio TV won’t just mean buying a TV from a company that’s essentially an ad business. It will mean fueling Walmart’s ad business. With Walmart also owning Onn and Amazon owning Fire TVs, that means there’s one less TV brand that isn’t a cog in a retail giant’s ever-expanding ad machine. With a history that includes complaints around working conditions and questionable products, including some that are straight scams, some people (including numerous Ars commenters) try to avoid commerce giants like Walmart and Amazon. In 2025, that will be harder for people looking for a new TV, especially an inexpensive one.

“Roku is at grave risk”

Further, Walmart has expressed a goal of becoming one of the 10 biggest ad companies, with the ad business notably having higher margins than groceries. It could use Vizio, via more plentiful and/or intrusive ads, to fuel those goals.

And Walmart’s TV market share is set to grow in the new year. Paul Gray, research director of consumer electronics and devices at Omdia, told Ars Technica he expects that “the new combined sales (Vizio plus Walmart’s white label) will be bigger than the current market leader Samsung.”

There are also potential implications related to how Walmart decides to distribute TVs post-acquisition. As Patrick Horner, practice leader of consumer electronics at Omdia, told Ars:

One of the possibilities is that Walmart could make use of the Vizio operating system a condition for placement in stores. This could change not only the Onn/Vizio TVs but may also include the Chinese brands. The [Korean] and Japanese brands may resist, as they have premium brand positioning, but the Chinese brands would be vulnerable. Roku is at grave risk.

Roku acquisition?

With Walmart set to challenge Roku, some analysts anticipate that Roku will be acquired in 2025. In December, Guggenheim analysts predicted that ad tech firm The Trade Desk, which is launching its own TV OS, will look to buy Roku to scale its OS business.

Needham & Company’s Laura Martin also thinks an acquisition—by The Trade Desk or possibly one of Walmart’s retail competitors—could be on the horizon.

‘’Walmart has told you by buying Vizio that these large retailers need a connected television advertising platform to tie purchases to,” Martin told Bloomberg. “That means Target and other large retailers have that reason to buy Roku to tie Roku’s connected television ad units to their sales in their retail stores. And by the way, Roku has much higher margins than any retailer.’”

She also pointed to Amazon as a potential buyer, noting that it might be able to use Roku’s user data to feed large language models.

Roku was already emboldened enough in 2024 to introduce home screen video ads to its TVs and streaming devices and has even explored technology for showing ads over anything plugged into a Roku set. Imagine how using Roku devices might further evolve if owned by a company like The Trade Desk or Amazon with deep interests in ads and tracking.

TV owners accustomed to being tracked

TV brands have become so dependent on ads that some are selling TVs at a loss to push ads. How did we get to the point where TV brands view their hardware as a way to track and sell to viewers? Part of the reason TV OSes are pushing the limits on ads is that many viewers seem willing to accept them, especially in the name of saving money.

Per the North American Q2 2024 TiVo Video Trends Report, 64.3 percent of subscription video-on-demand users subscribe to an ad-supported tier (compared to 48 percent in Q2 2023). And users are showing more tolerance to ads, with 77.8 percent saying they are “tolerant” or “in favor of” ads, up from 74 percent in Q2 2023. This is compared to 22.2 percent of respondents saying they’re “averse” to ads. TiVo surveyed 4,490 people in the US and Canada ages 18 and up for the report.

“Based on streaming services, many consumers see advertising as a small price to pay for lower cash costs,” Horner said.

The analyst added:

While some consumers will be sensitive to privacy issues or intrusive advertising, at the same time, most people have shown themselves entirely comfortable with being tracked by (for example) social media.

Alan Wolk, co-founder and lead analyst at the TVREV TV and streaming analyst group, agreed that platforms like Instagram have proven people’s willingness to accept ads and tracking, particularly if it leads to them seeing more relevant advertisements or giving shows or movies better ratings. According to the analyst, customers seem to think, “Google is tracking my finances, my porn habits, my everything. Why do I care if NBC knows that I watch football and The Tonight Show?”

While Ars readers may be more guarded about Google having an insider look at their data, many web users have a more accepting attitude. This has opened the door for TVs to test users’ max tolerance for ads and tracking to deliver more relevant ads.

That said, there’s a fine line.

“Companies have to be careful of… finding that line between taking in advertising, especially display ads on the home screen or whatnot, and it becoming overwhelming [for viewers],” Wolk said.

One of the fastest-growing ad vehicles for TVs currently and into 2025 is free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels that come preloaded and make money from targeted ads. TCL is already experimenting with what viewers will accept here. It recently premiered movies made with generative AI that it hopes will fuel its FAST business while saving money. TCL believes that passive viewers will accept a lot of free content, even AI-generated movies and shows. But some viewers are extremely put off by such media, and there’s a risk of souring the reputation of some FAST services.

OS wars

We can expect more competition from TV OS operators in 2025, including from companies that traditionally have had no place in consumer hardware, like ad tech giant The Trade Desk. These firms face steep competition, though. Ultimately, the battle of TV OSes could end up driving improvements around usability, content recommendations, and, for better or worse, ad targeting.

Following heightened competition among TV OSes, Omdia’s Gray expects winners to start emerging, followed by consolidation.

“I expect that the final state will be a big winner, a couple of sizeable players, and some niche offerings,” he said.

Companies without backgrounds in consumer tech will have difficulty getting a foot into an already crowded market, which means we may not have to worry much about companies like The Trade Desk taking over our TVs.

“I have yet to meet a single person who hasn’t looked at me quizzically and said, ‘Wait, what are they thinking?’ Because the US market for the operating system is very tight,” Wolk said. “… So for American consumers, I don’t think we’ll see too many new entrants.”

You can also expect Comcast and Charter to push deeper into TV software as they deal with plummeting cable businesses. In November, they made a deal to put their joint venture’s TV OS, Xumo OS, in Hisense TVs that will be sold in Target. Xumo TVs are already available in almost 8,000 locations, Comcast and Charter said in November. The companies claimed that the retailers selling Xumo TVs “represent nearly 75 percent of all smart TV sales in the US.”

Meanwhile, Xperi Corp. said in November that it expected its TiVo OS to be in 2 million TVs by the end of 2024 and 7 million TVs by the end of 2025. At the heart of Tivo OS is TiVo One, which TiVo describes as a “cross-screen ad platform for new inventory combined with audience targeting and monetization” that is available in TVs and car displays. Announcing TiVo One in May, Xperi declared that the “advertising market is projected to reach [$36] billion” by 2026, meaning that “advertising on smart TVs has never been more imperative.”

But as competition intensifies and pushes the market into selecting a few “sizeable players,” as Gray put it, there’s more pressure for companies to make their OSes stand out to TV owners. This is due to advertising interests, but it also means more focus on making TVs easier to use and better able to help people find something to watch.

Not a lot of options

At the start of this article, we asked if you’d be willing to share your data with retail conglomerates and ad giants to save money on a TV. But the truth is there aren’t many alternative options beyond disconnecting your TV from the Internet or paying for an Apple TV streaming device in addition to your TV. Indeed, amid a war among OSes, many Ars readers will opt not to leverage ad-filled software at all. This shows a disconnect between TV makers and a core audience while suggesting limits in terms of new TV experiences next year.

Still, analysts agree that even among more expensive TV brands, there has been a shift toward building out ad businesses and OSes over improving hardware features like audio.

“This is a low-margin business, and even in the premium segment, the revenues from ads and data are significant. Also, the sort of consumer who buys a premium TV is likely to be especially interesting to advertisers,” Gray said.

Some worry about what this means for TV innovation. With software being at the center of TV businesses, there seems to be less incentive to drive hardware-related advancements. Gray echoed this sentiment while acknowledging that the current state of TVs is at least driving down TV prices.

“I do fear that the pressure to make better TVs will be lost and that matters such as… durability and performance risk being de-prioritized,” he said.

Vendors are largely leaving shoppers to drive improvements themselves, such as by buying additional gadgets like soundbars, Wolk noted.

In 2025, TVs will continue focusing innovation around software, which has immediate returns via ad sales compared to new hardware, which can take years to develop and catch on with shoppers. For some, this is creating a strong demand for dumb TVs, but unfortunately, there are no immediate signs of that becoming a trend.

As Horner put it, “This is an advertising/e-commerce-driven market, not a consumer-driven market. TV content is just the bait in the trap.”

Photo of Scharon Harding

Scharon is Ars Technica’s Senior Product Reviewer writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer technology, including laptops, mechanical keyboards, and monitors. She’s based in Brooklyn.

Buying a TV in 2025? Expect lower prices, more ads, and an OS war. Read More »

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Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse.

ads, Amazon, Features, fire tv, lg, Roku, samsung, Tech, TVs / /
Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse.

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

The TV business isn’t just about selling TVs anymore. Companies are increasingly seeing viewers, not TV sets, as their most lucrative asset.

Over the past few years, TV makers have seen rising financial success from TV operating systems that can show viewers ads and analyze their responses. Rather than selling as many TVs as possible, brands like LG, Samsung, Roku, and Vizio are increasingly, if not primarily, seeking recurring revenue from already-sold TVs via ad sales and tracking.

How did we get here? And what implications does an ad- and data-obsessed industry have for the future of TVs and the people watching them?

The value of software

Success in the TV industry used to mean selling as many TV sets as possible. But with smart TVs becoming mainstream and hardware margins falling, OEMs have sought new ways to make money. TV OS providers can access a more frequent revenue source at higher margins, which has led to a viewing experience loaded with ads. They can be served from the moment you pick up your remote, which may feature streaming service ads in the form of physical buttons.

Some TV brands already prioritize data collection and the ability to sell ads, and most are trying to boost their appeal to advertisers. Smart TV OSes have become the cash cow of the TV business, with providers generating revenue by licensing the software and through revenue sharing of in-app purchases and subscriptions.

A huge part of TV OS revenue comes from selling ads, including on the OS’s home screen and screensaver and through free, ad-supported streaming television channels. GroupM, the world’s largest media investment company, reported that smart TV ad revenue grew 20 percent from 2023 to 2024 and will grow another 20 percent to reach $46 billion next year. In September 2023, Patrick Horner, practice leader of consumer electronics at analyst Omdia, reported that “each new connected TV platform user generates around $5 per quarter in data and advertising revenue.”

Automatic content recognition (ACR) tech is at the heart of the smart TV ads business. Most TV brands say users can opt out of ACR, but we’ve already seen Vizio take advantage of the feature without user permission. ACR is also sometimes turned on by default, and the off switch is often buried in a settings menu. Including ACR on a TV at all says a lot about a TV maker’s priorities. Most users have almost nothing to gain from ACR and face privacy concerns by sharing information—sometimes in real time—about what they do with their TVs.

At this point, consumers have come to expect ads and tracking on budget TVs from names like Vizio or Roku. But the biggest companies in TV are working on turning their sets into data-prolific billboards, too.

When TVs watch you back, so do corporations

In recent years, we’ve seen companies like LG and Samsung increase their TVs’ ad capabilities as advertisers become more eager to access tracking data from TVs.

LG, for example, started sharing data gathered from its TVs with Nielsen, giving the data and market measurement firm “the largest ACR data footprint in the industry,” according to an October announcement. The deal gives Nielsen streaming and linear TV data from LG TVs and provides firms buying ads on LG TVs with “‘Always On’ streaming measurement and big data from LG Ad Solutions” via Nielsen’s ONE Ads dashboard.

LG, which recently unveiled a goal of evolving its hardware business into an ad-pushing “media and entertainment platform company,” expects there to be 300 million webOS TVs in homes by 2026. That represents a huge data-collection and recurring-revenue opportunity. In September, LG said it would invest 1 trillion KRW (about $737.7 million) through 2028 into its “webOS business,” or the business behind its smart TV OS. The company said updates will include improving webOS’s UI, AI-based recommendations, and search capabilities.

Similarly, Samsung recently updated its ACR tech to track exposure to ads viewed on its TVs via streaming services instead of just from linear TV. Samsung is also trying to make its ACR data more valuable for ad targeting, including through a deal signed in December with analytics firm Experian.

Representatives for LG and Samsung declined to comment to Ars Technica about how much of their respective company’s business is ad sales. But the deals they’ve made with data-collection firms signal big interest in turning their products into lucrative smart TVs. In this case, “smart” isn’t about Internet connectivity but rather how well the TV understands its viewer.

Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse. Read More »

redbox-app-axed,-dashing-people’s-hopes-of-keeping-purchased-content

Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content

redbox, Roku, streaming, Tech / /

Roku kills Redbox app —

Customers uncertain as app remains downloadable after company’s Chapter 7 filing.

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Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content

Roku has finally axed the Redbox app from its platform. Redbox parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June and moved to Chapter 7 in July, signaling the liquidation of its assets. However, the app has remained available but not fully functional in various places, leaving customers wondering if they will still be able to access content they bought. This development, however, mostly squashes any remaining hope of salvaging those purchases.

Redbox is best known for its iconic red kiosks where people could rent movie and TV (and, until 2019, video game) discs. But in an effort to keep up with the digital age, Redbox launched a streaming service in December 2017. At the time, Redbox promised “many” of the same new releases available at its kiosks but also “a growing collection” of other movies and shows. The company claimed that its on-demand streaming service was competitive because it had “newest-release movies” that subscription streaming services didn’t have. The service offered streaming rentals as well as purchases.

But as Cord Cutters News pointed out this week, people can no longer open the using the Roku version of the Redbox app. When they try to use the app, they reportedly see a message reading: “Redbox is currently not supporting this app. For questions about the service on your account, please contact Redbox” and recommends other streaming apps, like Apple TV+.

Roku’s move suggests that Redbox customers will not be able to watch the stuff they bought. Barring an unlikely change—like someone swooping in to buy and resurrect Redbox—it’s likely that other avenues for accessing the Redbox app will also go away soon.

Interestingly, the Redbox app is still downloadable elsewhere. For example, I was able to download the app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and PlayStation Store today. In the case of the former two, the app’s contents, including shows, wouldn’t load. On PlayStation, the app asked me to sign up for an account, which did not work due to an “error.”

Looming questions

Ahead of Redbox’s bankruptcy announcement, people noticed a decline in Redbox’s services, including fewer kiosks and less promotion of new and upcoming titles.

Since Redbox filed for bankruptcy, though, there has been some confusion and minimal communication about what will happen to Redbox’s services. People online have asked if there’s any way to watch content they purchased to own and/or get reimbursed. Some have even reported being surprised after learning that Redbox, owned by Chicken Soup since 2022, was undergoing bankruptcy procedures, pointing to limited updates from Redbox, Chicken Soup, and/or the media.

There is also uncertainty about what will happen to the 24,000 remaining Redbox kiosks and their DVDs. As Chicken Soup filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it’s expected that the kiosks will be taken down, but we don’t know when or how they’ll be disposed of.

Last month, CVS filed a motion [PDF] asking the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (where Chicken Soup filed for bankruptcy) to allow it to “dispose of” thousands of Redbox kiosks. In its filing, CVS said that its contract with Redbox ended in 2023, at which point Redbox was obligated to remove “over 2,500 kiosks” from CVS stores, but many remained. The legal filing reads:

Throughout that time, [Redbox] has generally behaved as though the Kiosks were abandoned, although it did remove a very small number of them once it was threatened with a preliminary injunction in a state court lawsuit.

Redbox’s failure to remove the Kiosks has caused and continues to cause CVS substantial and unjustifiable economic harm, as well as damages for loss of use and enjoyment of its premises that are not readily financially compensable.

7-Eleven has also previously alleged [PDF] that Redbox failed to remove kiosks from its stores after their contract expired. 7-Eleven also claimed that Redbox owes it about $270,000 in commissions.

As Chicken Soup sorts through its debts and liquidation, customers are left without guidance about what to do with their rental DVDs or how they can access movies/shows they purchased. But when it comes to purchases made via streaming services, it’s more accurate to consider them rentals, despite them not being labeled as such and costing more than rentals with set time limits. As we’ve seen before, streaming companies can quickly yank away content that people feel that they paid to own, be it due to licensing disputes, mergers and acquisitions, or other business purposes. In this case, a company’s failure has resulted in people no longer being able to access stuff they already paid for and presumed they’d be able to access for the long haul.

For some, the reality of what it means to “own” a streaming purchase reality, combined with the unreliability and turbulent nature of today’s streaming industry, has strengthened the appeal of physical media. Somewhat ironically, though, Redbox shuttering meant the end of one of the last mainstream places to access DVDs.

Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content Read More »

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Roku owners face the grimmest indignity yet: Stuck-on motion smoothing

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Buttery and weird —

Software updates strike again, leaving interpolated frames in unwanted places.

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Couple yelling at each other, as if in a soap opera, on a Roku TV, with a grotesque smoothing effect applied to both people.

Enlarge / Motion smoothing was making images uncanny and weird long before AI got here.

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images | Roku

Roku TV owners have been introduced to a number of annoyances recently through the software update pipeline. There was an arbitration-demanding terms of service that locked your TV until you agreed (or mailed a letter). There is the upcoming introduction of ads to the home screen. But the latest irritation hits some Roku owners right in the eyes.

Reports on Roku’s community forums and on Reddit find owners of TCL HDTVs, on which Roku is a built-in OS, experiencing “motion smoothing” without having turned it on after updating to Roku OS 13. Some people are reporting that their TV never offered “Action Smoothing” before, but it is now displaying the results with no way to turn it off. Neither the TV’s general settings, nor the specific settings available while content is playing, offer a way to turn it off, according to some users.

“Action smoothing” is Roku’s name for video interpolation, or motion smoothing. The heart of motion smoothing is Motion Estimation Motion Compensation (MEMC). Fast-moving video, such as live sports or intense action scenes, can have a “juddery” feeling when shown on TVs at a lower frame rate. Motion smoothing uses MEMC hardware and algorithms to artificially boost the frame rate of a video signal by creating its best guess of what a frame between two existing frames would look like and then inserting it to boost the frame rate.

When it works, a signal looks more fluid and, as the name implies, smooth. When it is left on and a more traditional signal at 24 or 30 frames per second is processed, it works somewhat too well. Shows and films look awkwardly realistic, essentially lacking the motion blur and softer movement to which we’re accustomed. Everything looks like a soap opera or like you’re watching a behind-the-scenes smartphone video of your show. It’s so persistent an issue, and often buried in a TV’s settings, that Tom Cruise did a whole PSA about it back in 2018.

Ars has contacted Roku for comment and will update this post with a response. When affected Roku TVs regain their ability to keep motion smoothing at bay, the setting is typically located in the “Expert Settings” area of the TV or by enabling “Movie” mode from the quick settings.

Roku owners face the grimmest indignity yet: Stuck-on motion smoothing Read More »

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Roku OS home screen is getting video ads for the first time

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the price of cheap streaming —

Meanwhile, Roku keeps making more money.

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roku home screen

Roku

Roku CEO Anthony Wood disclosed plans to introduce video ads to the Roku OS home screen. The news highlights Roku’s growing focus on advertising and an alarming trend in the streaming industry that sees ads increasingly forced on viewers.

As spotted by The Streamable, during Roku’s Q1 2024 earnings call last week, Wood, also the company’s founder and chairman, boasted about the Roku OS home screen showing users ads “before they select an app,” avoiding the possibility that they don’t see any ads during their TV-viewing session. (The user might only use Roku to access a video streaming app for which they have an ad-free subscription.)

Wood also noted future plans to make the Roku home screen even more ad-laden:

On the home screen today, there’s the premier video app we call the marquee ad and that ad traditionally has been a static ad. We’re going to add video to that ad. So that’ll be the first video ad that we add to the home screen. That will be a big change for us.

Wood’s comments didn’t address the expected impact on the Roku user experience or whether the company thinks this might turn people off its platform. In December, Amazon made a similar move by adding autoplay video ads to the home screen of the Fire OS (which third-party TVs and Amazon-branded Fire TV sets and streaming devices use). Fire OS users who disable the ads’ autoplay function will still see ads as “a full-screen slide show of image ads,” per AFTVnews. Some users viewed the introduction as an intrusive step that went too far, and Roku may hear the same feedback.

During Roku’s earnings call, Wood also said the company is testing “other types of video ad units” and is looking for more ways to bring advertising to the Roku OS home screen.

This comes after recent efforts to expand ad presence on Roku OS, including through new FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) channels and by putting content recommendations on the home screen for the first time, per Wood, who said the personalized content row “will be, obviously, AI-driven recommendations.”

“There’s lots of ways we’re working on enhancing the home screen to make it more valuable to viewers but also increase the monetization on the home screen,” he said.

Roku’s revenue rise

Roku saw its average revenue per user (ARPU) drop from $41.03 in Q3 of its 2023 financial year to $39.92 in Q4 2023 (in Q4 2022, the company reported an ARPU of $41.68). Last week, Roku reported that ARPU, a key metric for the streaming industry these days, rose to $40.65 in Q1 2024. Meanwhile, Roku’s active account count rose by 1.6 million users from the prior quarter to 81.6 million.

“Roku has a direct relationship with more than 81 million Streaming Households, and we are deepening relationships with third-party platforms, including [demand side platforms], retail media networks, and measurement partners. Our business remains well positioned to capture the billions of dollars in traditional TV ad budgets that will shift to streaming,” an April 25 letter to shareholders [PDF] authored by Wood and Roku CFO Dan Jedda reads.

Like many streaming companies, a shift toward ads has resulted in higher revenue potential and user discontent. In its Q1 2024 results, Roku reported that revenue for its Devices business reached $126.5 million, compared to $754.9 for its Platform business, which drives most of its revenue through ad sales, representing a 19 percent year-over-year (YoY) increase. Overall, revenue rose 19 percent YoY to $882 million, and Roku’s gross profit grew 15 percent YoY to $388 million.

But growing revenue doesn’t equate to an improved user experience. For example, an Accenture survey of 6,000 “global consumers” noted by The Streamable found that 52.2 percent of participants thought that streaming platform-recommended content “did not match their interests.” Similarly, an October TiVo survey of 4,500 viewers in the US and Canada ranked “streaming apps / home screen / carousel ads” as the fourth most popular method of content discovery, after word of mouth, commercials aired during other shows, and social media. While Roku is a budget brand associated with more affordable TVs and streaming devices, excessive ads could make people reconsider the true price of these savings.

Despite people’s ad aversion, Roku intends to find more ways to drive advertising opportunities. Among those ideas being explored is the ability to show ads over anything plugged into the TV.

Roku OS home screen is getting video ads for the first time Read More »

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Roku forcing 2-factor authentication after 2 breaches of 600K accounts

passwords, Roku, Security, smart tvs, streaming, Tech, two-factor authentication / /

Roku account breach —

Accounts with stored payment information went for as little as $0.50 each.

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Roku logo on TV with remote in foreground

Getty Images

Everyone with a Roku TV or streaming device will eventually be forced to enable two-factor authentication after the company disclosed two separate incidents in which roughly 600,000 customers had their accounts accessed through credential stuffing.

Credential stuffing is an attack in which usernames and passwords exposed in one leak are tried out against other accounts, typically using automated scripts. When people reuse usernames and passwords across services or make small, easily intuited changes between them, actors can gain access to accounts with even more identifying information and access.

In the case of the Roku attacks, that meant access to stored payment methods, which could then be used to buy streaming subscriptions and Roku hardware. Roku wrote on its blog, and in a mandated data breach report, that purchases occurred in “less than 400 cases” and that full credit card numbers and other “sensitive information” was not revealed.

The first incident, “earlier this year,” involved roughly 15,000 user accounts, Roku stated. By monitoring these accounts, Roku identified a second incident, one that touched 576,000 accounts. These were collectively “a small fraction of Roku’s more than 80M active accounts,” the post states, but the streaming giant will work to prevent future such stuffing attacks.

The affected accounts will have their passwords reset and will be notified, along with having charges reversed. Every Roku account, when next requiring a login, will now need to verify their account through a link sent to their email address. Alternatively, one can use the device ID of any linked Roku device, according to Roku’s support page. (Forcing this upgrade yourself is probably a good idea for past or present Roku owners.)

Security blog BleepingComputer reported around the time of the incident that breached Roku accounts were sold for as little as 50 cents each and likely obtained using commonly available stuffing tools that bypass brute-force protections through proxies and other means. BleepingComputer reported that “a source” tied Roku’s recent updates to its Dispute Resolution Terms, which all but locked Roku devices until a customer agreed, to the fraudulent activity. Roku told BleepingComputer that the two were not related.

Roku forcing 2-factor authentication after 2 breaches of 600K accounts Read More »

Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV

ads, Roku, roku tv, Tech / /

giving us pause —

System would detect paused content on external devices and show ads on top.

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A promotional image for a Roku TV.

Enlarge / A promotional image for a Roku TV.

Roku TV sets come with ads. Generally, these are restricted to Roku’s home and menu screens, its screensavers, and its first-party video channels, and once you start playing video, the only ads you’ll see are the ones from the service you’re streaming from. That said, Roku TVs have shown ads atop live TV before.

Now, the company is apparently experimenting with ways to show ads over top of even more of the things you plug into your TV. A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads over any device connected over HDMI, a list that could include cable boxes, game consoles, DVD or Blu-ray players, PCs, or even other video streaming devices. Roku filed for the patent in August 2023 and it was published in November 2023, though it hasn’t yet been granted.

The technology described would detect whether content was paused in multiple ways—if the video being displayed is static, if there’s no audio being played, if a pause symbol is shown anywhere on screen, or if (on a TV with HDMI-CEC enabled) a pause signal has been received from some passthrough remote control. The system would analyze the paused image and use metadata “to identify one or more objects” in the video frame, transmit that identification information to a network, and receive and display a “relevant ad” over top of whatever the paused content is.

The proposed Roku device would include multiple modules dedicated to detecting and analyzing onscreen content and inserting ads over top of an existing video stream.

Enlarge / The proposed Roku device would include multiple modules dedicated to detecting and analyzing onscreen content and inserting ads over top of an existing video stream.

Roku

This theoretical Roku TV’s internal hardware would be capable of taking the original source video feed, rendering an ad, and then combining the two into a single displayed image. Combining those video streams could enable both static or animated ads, according to the patent.

Patents are just patents. A filed and granted patent isn’t the same thing as a concrete plan to actually implement the technology described in the patent. We could see this feature come to future Roku TV sets exactly as described, or we could never hear about it again. Everything from the cost of implementing the feature, to difficulty making it work in real life the way it works on paper, to user and partner backlash could dissuade Roku from putting this into practice.

But Roku the company is highly motivated to figure out more ways to make more money from more ads on Roku devices. Among the business risks disclosed on Roku’s financial filings from its 2023 fiscal year (PDF), the company says that its “future growth depends on the acceptance and growth of streaming TV advertising and advertising platforms.”

Roku's proposed workflow for detecting paused content and displaying an ad on top of it.

Enlarge / Roku’s proposed workflow for detecting paused content and displaying an ad on top of it.

Roku

If implemented as described, this system both gives Roku another place to put ads, and gives the company another source of user data that can be used to encourage advertisers to spend on its platforms. Roku also anticipates that the general shift toward ad-supported streaming tiers that we’ve seen in the last couple of years will “shift… ad dollars from traditional TV to streaming,” (PDF) and having more places to put ads will put Roku in a better position to capitalize on that shift.

It’s unclear whether this kind of feature could be enabled on currently supported Roku TVs with a software update, or if it would require a newer set with newer hardware in it. It seems as though a Roku TV that was capable of this kind of ad insertion would need more sophisticated internal hardware than most current sets currently come with—this is the same company that feuded with Google a few years back because it didn’t want to pay for more-expensive chips that could decode Google’s AV1 video codec.

Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV Read More »

“disgraceful”:-messy-tos-update-allegedly-locks-roku-devices-until-users-give-in

“Disgraceful”: Messy ToS update allegedly locks Roku devices until users give in

arbitration, Policy, Roku, streaming, Tech, TVs / /

Show’s over —

Users are opted in automatically unless they write a letter to Roku by March 21.

–

A promotional image for a Roku TV.

Enlarge / A promotional image for a Roku TV.

Roku customers are threatening to stop using, or to even dispose of, their low-priced TVs and streaming gadgets after the company appears to be locking devices for people who don’t conform to the recently updated terms of service (ToS).

This month, users on Roku’s support forums reported suddenly seeing a message when turning on their Roku TV or streaming device reading: “We’ve made an important update: We’ve updated our Dispute Resolution Terms. Select ‘Agree’ to agree to these updated Terms and to continue enjoying our products and services. Press to view these updated Terms.” A large button reading “Agree” follows. The pop-up doesn’t offer a way to disagree, and users are unable to use their device unless they hit agree.

Customers have left pages of complaints on Roku’s forum. One user going by “rickstanford” said they were “FURIOUS!!!!” and expressed interest in sending their reported six Roku devices back to the company since “apparently I don’t own them despite spending hundreds of dollars on them.”

Another user going by Formercustomer, who, I suspect, is aptly named, wrote:

So, you buy a product, and you use it. And they want to change the terms limiting your rights, and they basically brick the device … if you don’t accept their new terms. … I hope they get their comeuppance here, as this is disgraceful.

Roku has further aggravated customers who have found that disagreeing to its updated terms is harder than necessary. Roku is willing to accept agreement to its terms with a single button press, but to opt out, users must jump through hoops that include finding that old book of stamps.

To opt out of Roku’s ToS update, which primarily changes the “Dispute Resolution Terms,” users must send a letter to Roku’s general counsel in California mentioning: “the name of each person opting out and contact information for each such person, the specific product models, software, or services used that are at issue, the email address that you used to set up your Roku account (if you have one), and, if applicable, a copy of your purchase receipt.” Roku required all this to opt out of its terms previously, as well.

But the new update means that while users read this information and have their letter delivered, they’re unable to use products they already paid for and used, in some cases for years, under different “dispute resolution terms.”

“I can’t watch my TV because I don’t agree to the Dispute Resolution Terms. Please help,” a user going by Campbell220 wrote on Roku’s support forum.

Based on the ToS’s wording, users could technically choose to agree to the ToS on their device and then write a letter saying they’d like to opt out. But opting into an agreement only to use a device under terms you don’t agree with is counterintuitive.

Even more pressing, Roku’s ToS states that users only have “within 30 days of you first becoming subject to” Roku’s updated terms, which was February 20, to opt out. Otherwise, you’re opted in automatically.

Archived records of Roku’s ToS website seem to show the new ToS being online since at least August. But it was only this month that users reported that their TVs were useless unless they accepted the terms via an on-screen message. Roku declined to answer Ars Technica’s questions about the changes, including why it didn’t alert users about them earlier. But a spokesperson shared a statement saying:

Like many companies, Roku updates its terms of service from time to time. When we do, we take steps to make sure customers are informed of the change.

What Roku changed

Customers are criticizing Roku for aggressively pushing them to accept ToS changes. The updates focus on Roku’s terms for dispute resolution, which prevent users from suing Roku. The terms have long forced a described arbitration process for dispute resolution. The new ToS is more detailed, including specifics for “mass arbitrations.” The biggest change is the introduction of a section called “Required Informal Dispute Resolution.” It states that except for a small number of described exceptions (which include claims around intellectual property), users must make “a good-faith effort” to negotiate with Roku, or vice versa, for at least 45 days before entering arbitration.

Roku is also taking heat for using forced arbitration at all, which some argue can have one-sided benefits. In a similar move in December, for example, 23andMe said users had 30 days to opt out of its new dispute resolution terms, which included mass arbitration rules (the genetics firm let customers opt out via email, though). The changes came after 23andMe user data was stolen in a cyberattack. Forced arbitration clauses are frequently used by large companies to avoid being sued by fed-up customers.

Roku’s forced arbitration rules aren’t new but are still making customers question their streaming hardware, especially considering that there are rivals, like Amazon, Apple, and Google, that don’t force arbitration on users.

Based on comments in Roku’s forums, some users were unaware they were already subject to arbitration rules and only learned this as a result of Roku’s abrupt pop-up.

But with the functionality of already-owned devices blocked until users give in, Roku’s methods are questionable, and Roku may lose customers over it. Per an anonymous user on Roku’s forum:

I’m unplugging right now.

“Disgraceful”: Messy ToS update allegedly locks Roku devices until users give in Read More »

what-is-the-roku-channel?-and-how-to-use-it

What Is The Roku Channel? And How to Use It

Entertainment, Highlights, Media Streaming, Roku, Streaming Music / /

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 905 throw err; ^ Error: Cannot find module ‘puppeteer’ Require stack: – /home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 902: 15) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 746: 27) at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 974: 19) at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js: 101: 18) at Object. (/home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js:2: 19) at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 1085: 14) at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 1114: 10) at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 950: 32) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 790: 12) at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (internal/modules/run_main.js: 75: 12) code: ‘MODULE_NOT_FOUND’, requireStack: [ ‘/home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js’ ]

What Is The Roku Channel? And How to Use It Read More »

which-roku-model-should-you-buy?

Which Roku Model Should You Buy?

Entertainment, Highlights, Media Streaming, Roku / /

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 905 throw err; ^ Error: Cannot find module ‘puppeteer’ Require stack: – /home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 902: 15) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 746: 27) at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 974: 19) at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js: 101: 18) at Object. (/home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js:2: 19) at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 1085: 14) at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 1114: 10) at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 950: 32) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 790: 12) at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (internal/modules/run_main.js: 75: 12) code: ‘MODULE_NOT_FOUND’, requireStack: [ ‘/home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js’ ]

Which Roku Model Should You Buy? Read More »