Roku is planning to start using AI-driven ads on its streaming platform

Roku has recently announced that is planning to expand the use of generative AI for advertising on its streaming platform, focusing on small and medium sized businesses that have typically relied on search and social media ads. At an investor conference, CFO and COO Dan Jedda said the company wants to grow from hundreds of advertisers to more than 100,000, enabled by AI tools that can generate commercials within minutes.

The executive also noted that although https://alternativeto.net/software/the-roku-channel/about/ has seen rapid growth, with viewing hours up 80 percent year over year and accounting for 2.8 percent of total U.S. TV viewing in July, the company has only sold about half of its ad inventory, leaving significant unsold space that it hopes AI-generated ads can fill.

Jedda described the plan as a way to bring small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), such as local car dealerships and mom and pop shops, into connected TV advertising with new self-serve AI tools, marketing campaigns, and sales teams. He also noted that millions of businesses may need solutions from multiple providers as other AI companies target the same market, raising the possibility that streaming audiences could face a larger volume of machine-generated ads as the strategy expands.