Roku, a prominent player in the TV streaming industry, has recently made waves with its new patent filing that has the potential to shake up the way ads are displayed on smart TVs. The patent, discovered by Lowpass, outlines Roku's plan to strategically insert advertisements and commercials into the viewing experience by monitoring the video signal coming through HDMI inputs. This means that ads could be injected when the screen remains static for a certain period, like when a game is paused.
In a recent newsletter by Lowpass, the focus was on how Roku aims to enhance its revenue streams by cleverly integrating ads into moments when an HDMI-connected device is idle. As succinctly put by Lowpass:
When a user of a Roku TV takes a brief break from gaming on their Xbox or streaming content from an Apple TV, Roku seizes the opportunity to showcase ads. Roku's engineers have delved into methods to understand the user's activity on their connected device to offer relevant advertising.
Currently, Roku offers 'sponsorship spots' on its screensaver feature, Roku City. However, this feature doesn't extend to content coming through HDMI ports. Despite efforts to define what constitutes a pause, a definitive solution is yet to be reached.
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