IBC Conference: Roku on the value of out-of-app discovery

“It's easy to overstate the problems that consumers face,” says Tom Price, Director of Content Distribution at Roku. “A lot of the work we’ve done in surveys and focus groups tell us that consumers feel they've never had it so good. They've got access to all of this great content, from extremely high production value drama series to niche creator videos that they can watch on whatever device they want whenever they want.  

“They've also got increasingly sophisticated televisions. It's not like they’re having to jerry-rig cables, screens and devices as before. It's all starting to merge. With that said, it’s not quite working together properly yet. It still can be a little clunky to find the show you want and there's that paradox of choice where the sheer amount of possible things to watch can be overwhelming. 

“These are challenges that Roku is working on. How do you offer consumers vast choice but simplify it and help them find the right content?”