Every streamer needs to take notes from Roku’s upcoming update

I don’t know about you, but I have trouble sitting down and finding things to watch a lot. I can’t even think of how many times I’ve opened up Netflix and scrolled through the vast selection of titles, only to finally stumble across something without having time to watch it anymore. Sure, I can add it to my list to watch later, but I don’t often do that either as I’m no longer in the mood. This is an issue that I run into on every streaming service, and it’s hard to pinpoint an exact fix. It helps to have Netflix codes that help me narrow things down, but it’s not perfect.

Roku is facing the battle head-on after revealing some alarming statistics. According to a poll, 57% of Roku users give up looking for something and move on to do something else instead. Obviously, that’s not good for a streaming company, and Roku is taking steps to put it in the past. After learning the plan, I hope other streamers follow in Roku’s footsteps. I don’t want to waste my nights looking for something to watch any longer.

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Roku is making it easy to find things

The competition can learn a thing or two

One of the main things all companies can do is make it easier to separate shows and movies into specific sections. For example, during Oscar season, I wanted to catch up on award-nominated movies I missed. Aside from knowing where the heavy hitters were streaming, like Wicked and Conclave on Peacock, it was hard to find everything. Roku plans to make that a lot easier by not only letting me know when things are Oscar nominations, but also adding a section available for movies that are currently in theaters. The idea behind it is for me to see what looks interesting and automatically add it to a watchlist for when it hits streaming.

On top of that, sports are being sectioned off into their own area, so if I’m ever searching for something, it’ll be easy to find. Nice quality of life upgrades like this make the entire experience easier, and it’s a huge step in the right direction. Whether it’s enough for me to move my Roku Ultra into my living room over my Apple TV 4K is another thing entirely, but I wish Apple would copy some of these features.

With more streaming services available than ever, it means there’s more content at my fingertips than ever before. That means it’s a lot easier for things to slip between my fingers. Roku adding more personalization into the mix is only a good thing in my eyes, and I hope it means I can find a lot more hidden gems than I currently do. As of right now, I rely a lot on Letterboxd lists to see if I can find something I like, but not having to go to a third-party service like that would be most ideal. Unfortunately, the wait for these Roku updates could take a while as the company says they’ll arrive in the coming months. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the wait pays off. If it all works as intended, I’m perfectly fine with the rollout. I’m excited to see how everything works out, and if it goes off without a hitch, I’d love to see it come to all streaming platforms.

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A problem with no easy fixes

All hands on deck

Hulu

Every day, it feels like there’s a new streaming service to sink my teeth into. While it might be viewed as good for the consumer, it all adds up quickly. Even something like Tubi is hard for me, even though it’s a free service. Tubi is home to such a wide range of shows (prestige and not) that it’s hard to know what I’m getting myself into every time I open up the app. To their credit, Netflix often puts the newest release front and center, and that’s to be expected with original content. Tubi doesn’t have much in the way of originals, and you might get something like a 10-time Oscar-winning film just arriving with no fanfare being buried under the plethora of other things to watch.

This type of problem can be solved easily by watching enough things to tailor my algorithm, but that’s a tall task to do with so many services. Considering the fact that I don’t pay for every service at the same time, my tastes vary from month to month and coming back to an algorithm designed for me a few months ago could be wildly different from what I’m looking for now. Roku’s new discovery system could help alleviate that for me, but it’s just the first of many steps.

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Netflix does a decent job of categorizing its award winners into a specific section, and Max has good content curation functionality, so things aren’t as bad as they were a few years ago. Perhaps unrelated to the streamers themselves, I wish there was also a better way to track where movies are going when they leave one service. Some platforms do a good job of letting me know when something’s leaving, but if I don’t have time to watch it before it goes, it’d be nice to know where its new home is outside of having to read an article on a site. That’s a small nitpick that I don’t think can be solved, but it’d be nice to see my Roku or Apple TV let me know.

Nevertheless, it’s good to see the user experience getting better even if it’s going slower than expected. I’m not even ashamed to say I’m excited about the dedicated Roku City button — it’s one of my favorite things about having a Roku Ultra in my bedroom. There’s something about the florescent glow of the city lights coming off my TV that gets me ready for bed. The only way for me to visit now is to turn my Roku on and do nothing or to let it idle after watching a show. Having a button will alleviate that, and I think it’s one of the most underrated features coming, even if it ultimately means nothing for the overall experience.