Got a survey email from Roku. “Take our survey, maybe win a prize.” Sure, I like Roku. The guy that started it had done the original ReplayTV and I loved those. Autoskip commercials? I’m in.
“What reasons do you most enjoy streaming on a Roku? Pick an answer, or we won’t let you continue the survey.”
1) “No fucking commercials”
2) “None of the above”
Oh wait – neither of those are an option. I’m out.
The options they wanted to railroad me to were (pick one):
- Choice (content)
- Free (I do subscriptions, they are not free)
- Choice (time-shifting)
- Choice (content)
- Choice (time-shifting)
- Higher quality. This one is actually interesting, but not the reason I go with streaming. I enjoy the higher quality, but that was really more about the display resolution that came from upgrading the hardware.
- “It’s cheaper” – well, this one probably comes closest, but in no way does it imply the real reason it’s cheaper. I value my serenity, and all commercials (promotion of consumerism) are exactly the opposite of serenity. They are active destroyers of serenity. That’s their job. So for me, no commercials is cheaper from a stop-wasting-my-time point of view. But “It’s cheaper” implies dollars, and streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime is not less dollars.
- Choice (content)
- Choice (content)
I don’t need to fill out your survey, Roku. And from your ReplayTV history, you should remember and embrace your past of getting rid of commercials. That’s what people really want.
Why did you send out a survey that ignores the obvious?
Willful ignorance implies you have an advertiser. They want to hear that they should spend advertising dollars with you; so you are sending out a survey to bolster that position. Sorry, my answer is that advertisers suck, and I’m happier in my life without them.
Or it could be that you’re just Ignorant. What do people really want? Are you too busy for some introspection to figure it out? Here’s a question to ask:
“If you have the choice of watching something with commercials, or without commercials: which would you pick?”
No other factors; just the simple choice: which would you pick?
And now you are a little less ignorant. You’re welcome. 🙂