How TiVo Manages Competing Priorities on the CTV Homescreen
“There’s no more valuable real estate” in the CTV world than the homescreen, says TiVo’s VP Content Strategy & Business Development Briana Larsen. It’s the first thing users see when they turn on their TVs, and it needs to serve four critical constituencies—consumers, content providers, retailers, and advertisers—so “if it doesn’t work for everyone,” she argues, “it works for no one.” TiVo added a new feature this year with the release of TiVo Ads on its homescreen experience. In this clip from her keynote at Streaming Media Connect 2026, Larsen discusses how TiVo Ads is designed to bring personalized monetization features into the mix while working to maintain a homescreen experience that feels as frictionless as possible.
The Four Groups the Homescreen Serves
Streaming Media Editor-in-Chief Steve Nathans-Kelly opens the conversation by asking Larsen to talk about what TiVo Ads on the homescreen are and what their reception has been.
Larsen says, “We have our TiVo One platform, which is our TiVo ad unit, and that sits across our paid TV set-top boxes and our connected TV platform. And when you think about the homescreen, there’s no more valuable real estate than that. … That’s the first thing the user sees when they turn on their TV.” She notes that TiVo must serve the customers, TiVo’s content providers (by meeting their requirements so their apps are available via TiVo), retailers, and advertisers. “If it doesn’t work for everyone, it works for no one. And so we work really hard to make that homescreen easy to use and meet [all of] the needs,” Larsen explains.
The homescreen ad unit shouldn’t actually feel like advertising, Larsen notes. “Just like we recommend content that’s personalized, that ad unit should be personalized. We’re not going to serve a NASCAR ad to a PBS user and vice versa. So we really want that ad, that homescreen, to feel endemic to the entertainment experience,” she says, adding that homescreen ads are a “big push” for not just TiVo, but everyone in the space.
Blending Promotion With Content and Prioritizing Personalization
Nathans-Kelly agrees, noting that as an editor, he’s interested in the dynamics of homescreen advertising, but as a consumer, he wants to go directly to the show he wants to watch. “How do you make that as frictionless as possible and as welcoming? How do you keep people there?” he asks.
Larsen replies, “I think it comes down to, it shouldn’t feel like an ad.” TiVo blends promotional opportunities with editorial content on the homescreen, prioritizing personalization, she says. “And it’s also something that you can easily click away from. So we’re not requiring the user to watch a full video ad. If they want to exit out, they can immediately go to the apps they want to get to. So it should feel natural,” Larsen continues. TiVo’s user experience “does feel natural because it is endemic to entertainment. I think that’s a really important point.”
Join us November 9–11, 2026 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect 2026! Registration is open!
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