Roku Shakes Up Its Homepage To Give You More Shows You Want, But One Thing's Missing

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Not everybody realizes Roku’s relatively storied beginning as the first company to manufacture a device with integrated Netflix streaming. In fact, Anthony Wood, Roku founder and CEO, actually took a part-time job with the former DVD mailing service to develop the device after a $6 million investment in 2008. Now, Roku’s streaming device lineup offers great bang for the buck in the midrange, and impressive performance at the top of the line.

So it makes perfect sense that the platform is rolling out an experimental design focusing on personalization, content discovery, and ease of access. The revamp brings a more dynamic and streamlined interface that surfaces frequently used apps and puts relevant content suggestions front and center (Source: The Verge).

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One limited interface test at a time

What the currently limited-rollout interface redesign looks like. Screenshots courtesy of Roku via The Verge.

At the heart of the update lies a new Quick Access section that automatically populates with your most visited apps. Whether you’re binging Netflix nightly or regularly diving into action flicks scattered across platforms, Roku will now serve those destinations up for easier access.

For the time being, though, there’s a catch. Users with access to the redesign aren’t yet able to manually edit what shows up in the new section. Preston Smalley, Roku VP of Viewer Product, told The Verge that developers are still “trying some different approaches” to the Quick Access panel.

One of the things we know that’s going to be really important is that it just needs to work right out of the box. We’re definitely trying to see how much control people want, but that’s something we want to hear from customers. — Preston Smalley, Roku VP of Viewer Product

Another noticeable change involves how users first interact with the homepage. Instead of default cursor placement on the left-hand sidebar, tapping the Home button lands the cursor right on the main grid. In the currently in-testing layout, the sidebar remains collapsed until you manually expand it. Roku also transplanted the popular Live TV and Featured Free tools into the main grid for better visibility.

“We had some pretty compelling and delightful destinations, but it was only a minority of people that were finding them,” Smalley said. The hope is that by promoting them more visibly on the home screen, users will discover and use these features more often.

Other new additions include Subscriptions, which houses all your paid streaming services in one place, and For You, a reworked version of Roku’s What to Watch section offering tailored recommendations. There’s also a new What are you in the mood for? tile that lets you browse by vibe, with keywords like New & Popular, Food, or Drama.

The 7 best Roku apps for streaming movies and shows for free.

While Roku has been playing with ad formats recently, this redesign doesn’t increase the ad load. The marquee slot on the right side of the screen remains, and at least one placement will migrate to beneath your Top Picks, but you won’t have to deal with an overall increase in ads.

This redesign is still in the testing phase and may evolve before a broader rollout. Roku is actively gathering feedback and will allow test users to opt out if they prefer the classic layout. As Smalley summed the changes up: “We’re always looking to make the Roku experience just better, more intuitive, more engaging, and even more personalized.”