Mathilda May: Roku is cooking up a HDMI Conspiracy to Hijack your TV… and Spam you with lotta Ads

Mathilda May: Roku wanna hijack my TV to spam Ads? Can’t believe there are worse company than Facebook out there… Perhaps this is the sign the Evil Empire will collapse even before the election?

Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads

Making use of every pause

Roku Wants To Place Ads On Your TV When You Pause Your Game

Welcome to Lowpass, a newsletter about AR, VR, streaming and more. This week: A new Roku patent hints at plans to take ads beyond its own devices, and web-based VR lands on the Vision Pro.

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Your Roku TV may one day show ads when you pause video on your Apple TV

Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.

This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.

Roku TV and their undismissable ads…

Taking a break can be lucrative for Roku. The streaming device and smart TV company figured out some time ago that those times when consumers don’t do anything represent an advertising opportunity. One of the ways Roku monetizes inactivity is its somewhat iconic Roku City screensaver.

Roku began selling sponsorships for its screensaver last May; some of the companies that have paid to be featured in Roku City include Walmart and McDonalds.
One indicator for how much Roku values these moments of inactivity is that the company doesn’t allow developers to integrate their own screensavers into their apps running on Roku devices.
Developers are, however, able to build dedicated screensavers, which consumers can then download to replace the default screensaver.

HDMI is Roku’s blind spot. Roku’s ability to monetize moments when the TV is on but not actively being used goes away when consumers switch to an external device, be it a game console or an attached streaming adapter from a competing manufacturer…