Roku is redesigning its home screen for the first time in more than a decade, the company confirmed, updating an interface millions of users see every time they turn on their television.
The overhaul affects Roku City, the animated screensaver that depicts a stylized urban skyline and has served as the platform’s idle screen since its introduction.
What Is Changing
Roku has not disclosed a full breakdown of every visual change, but the redesign touches the main navigation layout as well as the Roku City screensaver itself.
The company has not announced a specific rollout date for all users.
Why It Matters
Roku held a 43 percent share of the U.S. streaming device market as of 2023, according to Leichtman Research Group, making its home screen one of the most-viewed interfaces in American television.
That scale means even minor design changes reach tens of millions of households.
Roku reported 89.8 million active accounts globally as of the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the company’s official earnings filing.
The home screen functions as the company’s primary commercial real estate, where it sells advertising placements and promotes streaming partners such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.
Any redesign carries direct implications for ad placement and partner visibility — and, by extension, for Roku’s revenue model.
Roku’s Business Model
Roku generates the bulk of its revenue from its platform segment, which includes advertising and content partnerships, rather than from hardware sales.
In 2024, platform revenue reached $3.4 billion, representing roughly 86 percent of total revenue, according to Roku's annual report.
The home screen sits at the center of that model. Brands pay for featured rows, banner placements, and promoted tiles that appear before users navigate anywhere else.
A layout change alters how those placements appear and how users interact with them — a detail advertisers and streaming partners will watch closely.
Background
Roku launched in 2008 as a hardware spinoff from Netflix, initially producing set-top boxes before expanding into smart TV operating systems licensed to manufacturers including TCL, Hisense, and Sharp.
The company now operates as primarily a software and advertising business, with its OS running on televisions sold under the Roku TV brand as well as third-party sets.
Roku City debuted as a screensaver feature and gradually became one of the most recognizable idle screens in consumer electronics, cycling through seasonal updates — including holiday-themed and sports-themed variants — while keeping its core animated cityscape intact.
The platform competes directly with Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, and Apple TV for both user attention and advertising dollars in the connected television market, where eMarketer projected U.S. connected TV ad spending would reach $33.35 billion in 2025.
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