Netflix is paying to advertise on your Roku remote and you don't even know it

Take a look at your Roku remote. See those dedicated quick launch buttons for services like Netflix, Hulu, and Sling? Did you ever wonder how Roku chooses which companies are on there?

The answer: those streaming services pay for their own dedicated space on your remote, and they pay Roku $1 per customer for each of those buttons.

So, for example, every Roku remote sold with four of those dedicated buttons on it nets the company an additional $4 on top of whatever each customer paid for it.

A recent report by Bloomberg takes a look into the streaming battle over your living room. With set-top boxes from Amazon, Apple, and Google dominating the market in recent years, Roku still maintains the lead with 44 percent of streaming TV viewing time happening on one of its devices, according to video analytics firm Conviva.  Read more...