Live data from Hacker News

Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

axios.com

331–340 of 407 posts

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep - you can search across all installed apps.

Content providers can choose what content to expose to the universal search. Most do, notably Netflix does not, so you can't find Netflix content using Siri.

Android tv does. Which you can get on an Nvidia shield or a cheaper off brand device on Amazon. Just be sure to get one that is certified for Netflix. (I think it's some kind of DRM that has to be on the device for the Netflix app to work).

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#332
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does their advertising feel so disruptive? Is it because it feels like something just broke for a moment? It seems that an ad will often be inserted right at a key moment. Maybe it is that I feel like I have to constantly hold the remote, ready to "skip" the rest of the ads, except now they are getting less and less skippable. Also, lately, they are running two ads instead of one. It is so annoying I have been wa…

I made an AI powered skip app to automatically skip the ads for me. Conveniently enough, it also detects Netflix/Hulu "Skip Intro" button, "Skip Re-Cap" button, and maybe even the "Are You Still Watching" button. Best thing I ever made. Literally cannot fall asleep to YouTube without it. Just threw it out on GitHub if anyone is interested: https://github.com/SkipSentry/Skip-Pi

pretty cool.. thanks for sharing :)

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#333
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made an AI powered skip app to automatically skip the ads for me. Conveniently enough, it also detects Netflix/Hulu "Skip Intro" button, "Skip Re-Cap" button, and maybe even the "Are You Still Watching" button. Best thing I ever made. Literally cannot fall asleep to YouTube without it. Just threw it out on GitHub if anyone is interested: https://github.com/SkipSentry/Skip-Pi

Oh, man! Falling asleep to youtube is (was) my PRIMARY reason for watching youtube. The recent creep of ads considerably reduces the soporific quality of dozing off to a Malcolm Gladwell conversation or a Royal Institute lecture.

Nothing worse than just drifting off to sleep watching a soothing woodworking video only for a 45 minute ad about some book club or a music video to ruin it.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#334
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been on Roku forever now and I'm always wondering about these people freaking out about the ads there. It is no where close to the ad intrusion of YouTube. They are not animated, have no sound, and basically stay out of the way. It's like the shinning example of how to do ads.

Roku ads take up the entire right half of the main launch screen, visible every time you turn on the TV or change apps. They've recently started displaying branded ads that are even more intrusive, taking over the entire theme + wallpaper (I recall they did this for Mandalorian, Soul, some other big movie launches). YouTube ads help fund content creators. Roku ads are being displayed on a stand alone device that I al…

Disable the dynamic wall paper and you won't get branded/sponsored ones.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#335

I've used Roku in various incarnations (box, TV) since it was released and was excited when the official YouTube app was finally available. But lately, it's been painful to watch YouTube due to the constant and disruptive advertising. Part of me is looking forward to the app being pulled from Roku, since it's so much like the cable TV experience I thought I was escaping. I don't feel this way about the other premium…

I don't think they are threatening to pull YouTube from the device, just YouTubeTV- a completely different service.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#336
post #39

The competitive landscape for what is turning out to be the next evolution of in-home video content delivery is just making me realize that the content is not worth the hassle. I'm not going to replace a $100/mo CATV subscription with 10 (or even 5) $10/mo individual subscriptions, where I have to constantly remember which service provides a particular show. I'm not going to have multiple dongles and devices to watch…

If you just want to replace cable, why would you need so many services? Surely one or two of them has enough to watch. Probably more than you used to find in 30-100 channels, and on demand, too.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That blog doesn't address the statements made by Roku. The Roku blog doesn't load for me because I have javascript disabled. But the axios article states: > asking Roku to create a dedicated search results row for YouTube within the Roku smart TV interface The YouTube blog hasn't denied that at all. In fact it practically confirms it: > Our agreements with partners have technical requirements to ensure a high quality…

Doesn't it ? >asking Roku to create a dedicated search results row for YouTube within the Roku smart TV interface >we have never, as they have alleged, made any requests to access user data or interfere with search results. Doesn't this contradict the idea that Roku claims they are asking for special search results. >Hah, a "high quality" experience indeed. Except, it's not quite "on youtube" since it's more "on Roku…

>I'm not understanding your point here, its the Youtube app. Why is it more on Roku ?

Because one nice feature of Roku is it will search for a program across all of the services. I can search for a movie and see it's $3.99 to rent on Amazon and $4.99 somewhere and free somewhere else. Maybe Google don't like being at the end of the list alphabetically, which might make sense for company that knows the drop off clickthrough rate.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#338
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is anticompetitive. Do me a favor. Look up your representative and call or email them. https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representati... Tell them Google is playing evil games with their empire and it's impacting hardware you purchased. Suggest a breakup of Google and YouTube.

> Tell them Google is playing evil games with their empire and it's impacting hardware you purchased. Suggest a breakup of Google and YouTube. Why would a breakup make a difference here? AFAICT the entire deal is limited to YouTube. A breakup would matter if other parts of Google were involved, for example, if Google were threatening to remove Roku from search/ads if they couldn't strike a deal with YouTube. That wou…

Roku claims that Google are imposing requirements that they don't impose on other TV box producers. And someone elsewhere in the thread said Google were pushing Chromecast at him at the same time. If Google is offering a better YouTube experience on Chromecast than on third-party devices, that seems anticompetitive.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#339
The only reason I’m using a Roku device is because Xfinity Stream is only available on Roku and I don’t want to pay shit Comcast for an extra box. Talk about two companies everyone hates. I really hope Xfinity Stream makes its way to Apple TV but I highly doubt it with the bureaucracy.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#340
post #95
post #18

I get this situation is different since YouTube is looking for concessions on functionality, but I find it hard to defend Roku with their triple-dipping scheme. They charge for the device (I paid over $100 for my 4k HDR box), then they display massive ads covering 50% of the screen, then they want a cut of revenue from content providers as well. Roku burned through a lot of goodwill with their customers during the HB…

I can't say this for everyone, but a tech consumer has to know that just over $100 does not cover the cost of the hardware. It's got to come from somewhere else. I'm usually not much of an Apple fan, but I just switched to the Apple TV and am really liking it. It certainly seems like charging 2x the price for the hardware removes a lot of the incentive to do all the scammy stuff Ruku is involved in; though I guess I…

Roku was profitable while selling 50$ devices with no ads.
Post reply on HN