Roku OS Home Screen Overhauled With Large Permanent Ad

Roku has unveiled the biggest overhaul to its smart TV operating system in 10 years, with the most noticeable change being a new ad space that takes up a large chunk of the screen’s right side.

Before the update, the Roku OS home screen featured a menu on the left side with sections including “What to Watch,” “Live,” and “Search.” The right side displayed a row of tiles for “Recommended” content above several rows of tiles representing downloaded apps. In the new design, the right side is dedicated to ads. The ad remains visible as users navigate different parts of the Roku menu, reducing space that could be used for displaying apps and content.

The marquee ad space can show marketing for a TV show or movie available to stream, such as an ad for the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso in an image shared by Roku. It could also display a regular, possibly unrelated advertisement. CNET reported seeing a demonstration with an ad for The Farmer’s Dog dog food in the space. CNET, citing a discussion with Preston Smalley, VP of viewer product at Roku, reported that the proportion of each type of ad—paid or programmed—wasn’t set and could change.

The home screen changes tie to Roku’s efforts to maintain profitability. The company first reached annual profitability in 2021, largely due to people staying at home during the pandemic. It did not see annual profitability again until 2025, when its finances were buoyed by growth in advertising revenue. In its most recent earnings report, Roku made $371 million in advertising revenue. Its Platform business, which includes advertising and subscriptions, posted a gross profit of $584.1 million. Roku’s devices business lost $19.1 million. Total gross profit was $564.9 million.

In a February earnings call, Roku CEO Anthony Wood said that he thinks the new home screen, which was in testing at the time, would “increase monetization over time, whether that’s getting viewers to sign up for subscriptions or watch more ad-supported content.”

Additional changes include a slimmer left sidebar menu with images replacing text. In the center are tiles for “Top Picks for You” above rows for “Quick Access.” The former is a personalized row that makes recommendations and highlights trending and relevant content based on user interest, where no two people will see the same mix. Quick Access uses AI to show users’ most-used apps and shortcuts. Smalley told Fast Company that not very many people actually customized those app screens and would end up scrolling to the bottom of a long list, so the update pulls that together in a way that makes sense.

The update also adds a section called Destinations, which Roku described as curated hubs that span genres and moods, such as comedies, sports, and movies, with content across different streaming services. Some users have reacted negatively. One apparent Roku user posting as Kruse on Reddit wrote, “I don’t want recommendations! I know what I want to watch. Plastering ads for shit you think I want to see is the fastest way to get me to not watch it. This is going to suck.” The update does not include an easy way to select recently viewed content from across apps on the home screen.