On March 9, 2023, Roku released its new OS, OS12.
The update will be available for all Roku TVs and players over the next few weeks.
Read along to find out what are the new additions and how you can, as a developer, profit from the new options.
According to the official Release Note
“Roku® OS 12, the latest automatic software update for Roku devices, brings you Roku’s most intuitive, personalized, and seamless streaming experience. Highlights include improvements across Live TV, Sports, entertainment discovery, the Roku Mobile App, and more.
Roku OS 12 will roll out to supported Roku streaming players and Roku TV™ models over the coming weeks.”
Updates to Live TV
Roku’s Live TV experience boasts 350+ free live TV streaming channels across various genres, including News, Sports, Kids, Movies, Crime, Music, and En Español. And with the launch of Local News, users can watch live news channels personalized by location and stream channels from major cities across the United States. Plus, news recommendations are now powered by AI, making them more intelligent than ever and ensuring users see a curated experience within the Live TV Zone. To access this feature, users can search for “local news” using either Roku Search or Roku Voice or visit the Live TV Zone on their Roku Home Screen Menu.
Users can also customize their Live TV experience with the ability to Favorite or Hide live TV channels directly within the Live TV Zone. Any media marked as a favorite or hidden in the Live TV Zone (or within the Live TV Channel Guide) will be reflected across both experiences for a perfect sync.
I understand from this that Roku will prioritize Live streams and Live Streaming channels even more.
For a while now, channels with live content could notice a boost in RS ( Roku Search); thanks to this new update, the increase will be more significant, so placing a live feed in your channel might be the “move” your channel needs.
More Sports
Roku’s Sports Experience makes it easy for users to search for any game, team, or league across the Roku platform, discover live games, and stream sports-related entertainment. Sports coverage continues to expand with new golf and soccer options. New channel partners (including CBS Sports, MLB.TV, NBA App, and NBC Sports) continue supporting broader live events and entertainment coverage. And it’s all more personalized than ever, with everything tailored to users’ most watched sports, favorite teams, and locations.
So if you have a sport-related channel, if properly optimized, you can expect a boost in your viewers and installation. If not, nothing stops you from adding sport-related content – tag it properly and gain some “attraction.”
The truth is that any topic can have more or less a sports connection. You have a Marketing related channel – you can very easily add a category for … office workouts, for example. You have a … landscaping channel – you can very well ad some “working” exercises before starting your “landscaping.”
You got the idea, so let’s move on to the next “new thing.”
Expansion to Continue Watching
What to Watch on the Home Screen Menu provides users with a single destination to browse and discover trending entertainment across the Roku platform. Continue Watching, a row included within What to Watch was introduced with OS 11.5 as a quick and easy way for users to resume playback of recently watched movies and TV shows. And now, Continue Watching continues to expand with additional partners, including BET+, discovery+, Freevee, Frndly TV, Prime Video, and STARZ.
Personalizing the Roku Home Screen Menu
The Roku Home Screen menu offers users easy access to critical features like search, entertainment discovery, and device controls in just a few clicks. And with the new addition of machine learning, menu items like Featured Free, What to Watch, and Live TV are now conveniently ordered on how likely users are to stream from each feature.
Mobile App Updates
Roku OS 12 brings some exciting changes to the Roku mobile app: a refreshed account management experience, a more seamless integration of Roku Photo Streams, and brand-new entertainment discovery tools to make streaming even more accessible.
Account Hub: The mobile app features a refreshed account experience, allowing users to quickly and easily manage everything from personal information to notifications. To navigate this new experience, users can click the “Account” icon on the top right of any mobile page.
Continue Watching & Sports Zone: Continue Watching now appears as its row in the Roku mobile app, making it simple for users to jump back into their entertainment. And sports enthusiasts can now browse all Roku Sports Zones for live and upcoming games, apps, and sports-related entertainment. It’s as easy as navigating to the Sports row in the mobile app via the Home tab.
Quick & Easy Access to Live TV for Roku Player & Audio Devices: A favorite feature for Roku TV users is now available to Roku Player and Audio device owners—quick access to Roku’s 350+ free, live TV streaming channels via a new Guide button on the remote screen. The Live TV Channel Guide will appear on the screen when users press the Guide button. Once it does, users can watch free, live TV channels, browse the program guide, and find channels that match their interests by exploring easily sortable categories and genres.
Note: The Guide button within the Roku mobile app will be available when connected to a Roku Player or Audio device with OS 12. This feature will be available in the US, CA, and MX.
Roku Photo Streams
With new mobile integration, OS 12 makes it even simpler to set personalized photo screensavers and to upload and manage Roku Photo Streams via the Roku mobile app. When users want to upload photos to a stream, the mobile app can more easily access their local photos, making selecting pictures a breeze. Stream photo limits have also increased from 100 to 1,000 per stream. Roku Photo Streams is accessible via a user’s Account page in the mobile app.
Supported Roku devices receiving Roku OS 12
Roku streaming players and Streambars – 9102X, 9101X, 9100X, 4802X, 4801X, 4800X, 4670X, 4662X, 4661X, 4660X, 4640X, 4630X, 4620X, 4230X, 4210X, 4200X, 3960X, 3941X, 3941X2, 3940X, 3940X2, 3932X, 3931X, 3930X, 3921X, 3920X, 3910X, 3900X, 3821X, 3821X2, 3820X, 3820X2, 3811X, 3810X, 3800X, 3710X, 3700X, 3600X.
Roku TV – All Roku TV models are expected to receive Roku OS 12.