Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
It’d be safe to say that there’s a much higher probability of this kind of a patent being implemented than something that takes real problem solving and engineering to implement. This one is clearly made with to increase revenue and will most probably be pursued by them as much as possible. I can even see them getting royalties for this stuff, from other Smart TV companies.
Things that may hinder this:
Really just make forced arbitration illegal and these things will reduce significantly.