Ads on your streamer's home screen

One complaint that several users mention on support forums regards ads on the streaming device home page.

For some reason, some people get all bent out of shape about this. Some complain about the content of the ads. For example, Roku support forums have lots of complaints about mature themes in ads on the home page that children can see.

Some complain about the existence of the ads. That is, they don't want to see any ads whatsoever.

Now, understand that these ads are actually ads for apps, services, movies, or TV shows that can be watched on the platform. There might be an ad for The Expanse, which is a show you can watch on Amazon Prime Video. Or an ad for Hulu, which can be added to your apps and subscribe and watch.

You won't find -- or at least I've not seen -- ads for Chevrolet, Bank of America, Ford, Viagra, or other non-streaming products. Everything is actually a promotion of streaming content.

So, is it possible to not have ads on your streamer's home screen? Well, yes, but there's a catch. You have to have an Apple TV device.

Apple TV is the only device that doesn't actually include ads on the home screen. If you have a Roku device, a Fire TV device, or a Google/Android TV device, you'll see ads. But you won't on Apple TV.

Is that the only way to stop ads? Properly, yes. The terms of service of the devices allow them to put ads there, and any hardware or software you have that blocks the ads is actually a violation of that. I've not gone into how to block ads, and don't plan to. I agreed to the terms, and I'll follow the terms or not use the device. Plus there's one other thing: ads don't bother me.

I suppose it's my super power. I can completely ignore an ad for something I don't care about. The only time an ad really irritates me if it's an ad for something I'm personally opposed to. I despise political ads, for instance, but the ads on streaming device menus are not that type. Within the content, yes, I've seen the ads, and I will get irritated by political ads there, but generally, they don't bother me.

If you insist on removing ads from your streaming device menu, the only proper way is to use an Apple TV. And, using an Apple TV device is actually a good user experience. I've used them in my Streaming Life for years, but not because of the lack of ads. But if ads are a deciding factor for you, Apple TV may be the way to go.