More Ads On Roku Could Lure More Channels, But What About Viewers?

Roku is maturing fast this week: First came news of its first cable-channel partner, WealthTV, and now a deal with mDialog that will allow for dynamic midstream ad insertion in its programming. While WealthTV might seem the bigger deal, the latter has bigger implications.

The ability to dynamically insert ads is something that could attract more programmers -- not to mention, more prominent ones than WealthTV -- who will want a dual revenue stream in place if they’re going to consider Roku as a distribution partner. But if mDialog is going to allow for programmers to insert more ads, it’s going to be interesting to see whether there’s any pushback from viewers. The answer here may not necessarily be a yes or no question to ads on Roku channels. It may take some experimentation with ad load and price point to get it right.