Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 – 3:45 pm
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TV home screens are the next battleground for consumer attention and, thus, ad performance.
On Wednesday, Roku unveiled its new home screen to a small room of partners and press in New York City. The new home screen includes a “Top Picks for You” section, an easier way to access subscriptions and a new search function. All of these features are meant to tailor the home screen experience to each viewer.
Home screens are “one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in streaming right now,” said Preston Smalley, VP of viewer product, addressing the room. Roku and other streaming distributors such as Vizio and Samsung have been trying to figure out how to help advertisers reach viewers on their home screens before they get lost in their shows. Reaching viewers while they’re still in the content discovery phase has become increasingly important to marketers reckoning with the fact that so many subscribers prefer ad-free streaming.
