Roku this week disputed a viral social media post that claims the streaming hardware maker has started displaying “pause ads” against content streamed from other sources on its smart TVs.
The issue received a significant amount of online attention after a streamer posted a photo to a Reddit community frequented by Roku users that claimed a Roku StreamBar Pro device was displaying ads when content on non-Roku platforms was paused.
A review of the post by The Desk revealed the streamer was watching content from Discovery Plus, a service owned by Warner Bros Discovery that displays its own pause ads on some lower-cost plans. The service is available on Roku’s streaming hardware, but isn’t owned by the company.
Nonetheless, the post led to a report from a website called Tech Issues Today that was subsequently picked up by the streaming blog Cord Cutters News, which erroneously claimed that pause ads were taking over Roku screens “even when watching DVDs or video games,” even though the claim was nowhere to be found on the original social media post.
Citing the Tech Issues Today article, writer Luke Bouma claimed that Roku’s pause ads were using automatic content recognition to inject advertisements across HDMI inputs, which affected Roku TV users who were watching content from gaming consoles and other devices that were hooked up to their TV.
“The rollout follows a successful pilot phase, with Roku noting positive advertiser feedback, as pause ads command premium pricing due to their non-intrusive nature compared to mid-roll or pre-roll ads,” Bouma claimed.
But Roku denies any of that is true. One executive at the company told The Desk by phone on Wednesday that the company has not piloted a project to publish ads across non-Roku platforms, and that it currently has no plans to do so.
The source — who asked to remain anonymous because they were not explicitly authorized to speak with a reporter — expressed frustration with a number of publications that “ran with the story without apparently checking in with anyone here” to see if the claim made on Reddit was true.
The executive clarified that the company only displays ads on the home screen of its devices, as well as within The Roku Channel, a free streaming TV app.
“We don’t run ads anywhere else,” the source said.
On Wednesday, Tech Issues Today updated its article to include a statement from a Roku spokesperson, who clarified that the company believes the original Reddit user was experiencing a pause ad from another platform.
Other websites, including 9to5Google, FlatPanelsHD, The Streamable and ZDNet, also updated their stories with the correct information between Monday and Wednesday. The erroneous Cord Cutters News article remained online as of Wednesday evening.
Advertising is the biggest part of Roku’s business, accounting for nearly all of its revenue and helping the company narrow its operating loss over the past few years. Earlier this month, Roku revealed it earned $1.02 billion during the first three months of the year, of which $880.8 million was owed to its advertising and subscriptions business.
As Roku focuses more on advertising and subscriptions, the company has tinkered with ways to generate additional revenue off the users of its feature-filled, attractively-priced streaming hardware and smart TVs.
Last year, tech journalist Janko Roettgers reported Roku had filed an application for a patent that might display ads when users of its smart TVs pause content while using other devices connected via HDMI. The report led to significant media coverage that wrongly claimed Roku was in the process of rolling out those types of ads, even though Roettgers never said this in his story, and Roku hadn’t received approval on its patent application.
That said, Roku has experimented with delivering ads in other ways, with mixed results. The company began selling sponsorships against its “Roku City” screen saver two years ago, which allows brands to reach consumers when their Roku TVs are inactive for some time.
Earlier this year, the company tested a new type of ad that automatically started a trailer for “Moana 2” on Disney Plus when they first turned on their TVs. The ad generated some backlash among Roku users. A spokesperson later clarified that the ad was part of a limited test with a few Roku streamers “as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.”
