How many ads are you forced to watch on The Roku Channel?
How many ads are you forced to watch on The Roku Channel?
Roku has become a bit infamous for some of its recent advertising tactics, but how do viewers fare on The Roku Channel?
Roku makes a huge chunk of its revenue from ads, and it isn’t afraid to ruffle customer feathers with a little bit of experimentation. The most recent test Roku tried was to incorporate start-up ads when viewers booted up their devices, a move that upset Roku users from coast to coast.
However, Roku’s free streaming service The Roku Channel is a place where customers expect to see ads. It comes with a myriad of free streaming channels and on-demand content as well, but is the ad experience as frustrating on The Roku Channel as it is with some Roku products?
Everything you need to know about the ad experience on The Roku Channel
What’s the ad experience like on licensed Roku Channel shows?
To make sure I covered my bases with this deep dive, I checked out both a 30-minute and a 60-minute licensed show on The Roku Channel to see what the ad experience was like. I tested “2 Broke Girls” for a half-hour show, and “Bones” as my hour-long series.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that episodes of “2 Broke Girls” had as few as one break per episode, totaling less than two minutes of ads in total — the ad break on the shorter show was around 15 seconds longer, at 105 seconds total. “Bones” episodes had up to four breaks per episode, but the length of these breaks did not exceed 90 seconds each, so I only saw around five minutes of commercials per hour, maximum.
What’s the ad experience like on original Roku Channel shows?
Once again, I tried two different lengths of title for this test, choosing “The Great American Baking Show” as my hourlong series, and “Swimming with Sharks” for my half-hour option.
The ad experience was essentially the same as it was on licensed movies. “Swimming with Sharks” episodes only had one commercial break, and though it was a bit longer than the average interruption on “Great American Baking Show,” I still only saw less than two minutes of ads per episode overall. “GABS” only showed me three to four ad breaks per episode, coming in at around five minutes of commercial time or less.
What is the ad experience like on Roku Channel movies?
I would say that the ad experience across Roku Channel movies is also consistent. I tried “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” as the Roku original title for this test, and “John Wick: Chapter 4” as my licensed movie.
The ad break lengths were the same as they were on TV tests, around 90 seconds each. There were considerably more of them, however; “Weird” had eight breaks, adding up to around 12 minutes of ads total, and “John Wick” had 11 breaks, coming out to around 16 minutes of commercials. It’s worth noting, however, that “John Wick” is around an hour longer than “Weird,” so it’s likely that Roku Channel uses movie length as a guide when determining how many commercial breaks to insert per title.
Does The Roku Channel have pause ads?
Yes, The Roku Channel does have pause ads when streaming.
Does The Roku Channel use ads with kids content?
Yes, I tried both “Love, Diana” and “Megamind,” and both came with ads. I didn’t see any discernible difference in the ads on adult content versus kids’ content, either.
Final thoughts
Overall, I was decently impressed with The Roku Channel’s ad experience. It could have been a lot worse, and the streamer doesn’t overpack any of its content with commercial breaks as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t even see any pre-roll ads while watching The Roku Channel, which was a first for me.
If you’re looking for a free streaming experience that doesn’t bombard you with commercials and still offers a good selection of on-demand content, you can do a whole lot worse than The Roku Channel.
Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is a free, ad-supported streaming service that offers a broad mix of movies, TV shows, live linear channels, and original programming. Available to all viewers — not just Roku device owners — the service features licensed content from major studios alongside Roku Originals, which include exclusive series, movies, and specials previously produced for Quibi, as well as new original projects developed specifically for the platform.