• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

One analyst calls the new Roku home screen "one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in entertainment.”

Is that a bit of an overblown characterization?

With Roku’s now 100 million active streaming households on its streaming distribution platform -- incorporated into smart TV sets, via set-top devices and streaming sticks -- there are some strong arguments for upgrading its home screen. It is now live for about 20% of its users.

Roku is now amping up the page for users -- specifically speeding up the time it takes to find movies and TV shows with new areas such as “Top Picks for You,” “Your Daily Scoop” and “Destinations.”

In addition, users can get billions of possible home-screen combinations to make it a more personalized experience, and the layout can shift throughout the day in terms of where the TV set resides -- for example, in a child’s play area or an adult bedroom.

Sean Diffley, media analyst for Morgan Stanley, says it “should help drive further engagement and monetization potential supporting sustained solid double-digit revenue growth.”

For advertisers, Diffley says there is “a biddable in-tile ad unit for more personalized action which can create better engagement and monetization.”

He equates this move with that of Netflix's home landing page, which he called “the most valuable piece of real estate in digital media and entertainment.”

Analysts believe that, in particular, it will help boost the Roku Channel -- which drives much of its advertising business.

So, this is Roku looking to step up -- giving brands (and viewers) more punch.

But is it also because of competition -- for a similar space on other popular streaming platforms? We are talking about Netflix, in particular.

Netflix's advertising revenues are projected to hit $3 billion this year. Industry estimates for Roku’s 2026 advertising revenues are around $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion. Both companies have seen double-digit percentage growth, with much coming from more budget shifts from linear TV into digital.

This puts a clear focus for brands to consider going forward --- as part of their overall media budget spent on the platform.

With rising fractionalization of premium video -- and media in general -- they want to hone in on the first media screens consumers see while they are navigating around the streaming ecosystem.

For brands, the essence is not just to secure an “A” position in a traditional TV network commercial pod, but offering even bigger, major sponsorship-like positioning for major awareness -- with, of course, key new engagement possibilities.

With Netflix also recently also upgrading its home landing page as well to make navigation easier, we wonder where this all will go next.