Roku is updating its user interface to add features like a dedicated row for upcoming theatrical releases and more personalized sports highlights.
The improvements to the “Roku Experience” were touted by execs along with a range of hardware and other features during a “global event” Wednesday morning in New York City. CEO Anthony Wood said “delivering better TV for everyone … drives everything we do.” Founded in 2002, Roku now operates in 17 countries. “As our global footprint grows, so does our commitment to innovation,” Wood said.
The new Roku Experience aims to make it easier for viewers to find what they want to watch. Roku says 57% of their users (in 90 million households) say they often give up after searching and do something else instead.
The new “Coming Soon to Theaters” row showcases titles that will soon hit theaters. “If you see a movie you’d rather wait to watch at home, simply add it to your Save List, and we’ll let you know once it’s available to stream,” the company said in a blog post published after the event.
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Those could be provocative words for embattled movie theater operators, who are in a pitched battle to shift the industry back to a standard 45-day window. During Covid and the flood of new streaming services in recent years, consumers often get confused by the sequence premium VOD, transactional VOD and subscription streaming. Some studio and exhibition executives cite that consumer confusion as one reason why the domestic box office remains nearly 20% below pre-Covid levels.
Neala Gollomp, Roku’s senior director of viewer experience, told Deadline in an interview that the goal of the “coming soon” initiative was to centralize the movie experience within Roku, rather than forcing viewers to multiple platforms. Family films often generate repeat viewing in streaming after they are seen in theaters. Tracking the availability in streaming via Roku is a value-add, she said. Down the road, Roku hopes to be able to provide theatrical ticketing through its streaming platform.
Sports has been a focus for Roku overall in recent years. The company has acquired rights to Major League Baseball and the X Games and has also sought to organize sports programming into dedicated hubs, as it did in co-ordination with NBCUniversal for last summer’s Paris Olympics. As part of the user interface update, a new personalized highlights row will be featured. The feature “puts the best clips up front and center, all in one place – keeping you in the know about what matters most: your team,” the blog post said.
The “global” billing for Wednesday’s event was carried through with news about various products and initiatives rolling out in Brazil, Central and South America, UK, Canada, Mexico. Along with the Roku Experience enhancements, the company also announced new streaming sticks, TVs, smart-home wares and projectors.