• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 25, 2025

There’s pre-roll advertising on streaming platforms and apps -- and now, apparently, pre-pre roll.

Ask Roku why.

The big streaming distribution/retail service is testing autoplaying ads that load on-screen before one gets to the Roku home screen. Will other similar companies follow?

Some of the ads are very quick -- five seconds or less. Recent ones some Roku customers have seen include one for Walt Disney’s film “Moana 2".

Just in case you want to complain about some forced ad viewing in a more mature streaming and traditional TV world, slow down: Roku offers a way to “close” these ads. But it may not be all that obvious.

One sees this as akin to digital display ads where users need to locate the “X” function -- to close the ad. But that “X” can be muted and/or faded in the creative of the ad, making the task a bit more difficult to accomplish.

It would be hard to argue that this new somewhat pushed TV spot is the consumers interest -- especially for Roku where its home screen has been a strong focus on its association and initial consumer experiences with its brand.. Perhaps that’s why the initial test uses a friendly short bit of entertainment -- a movie.

This Roku activity isn’t all that unusual in another way -- to an extent

Think about initial home screens of popular streaming platforms where one looks to find some good entertainment to watch -- like Netflix. Consumers go to a specific area to find “tiles” of dramas, comedies, or Rom Coms, where clips of content appear as one scrolls through a list of each show or movie.

But moving on to the next show tile typically stops these previews.

For its part, it seems Roku is just testing the waters a bit -- trying to find the next generation of “autoplaying” advertising that might work for consumers. And certainly one where brands would be interested.

Autoplaying isn’t exactly a new thing in the streaming world. But hard-pressed streaming businesses looking for big, continuous advertising growth will continue to experiment. 

Consumers, however, may reveal bad lab results.