Should you buy a Roku TV on Black Friday 2021?

There’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard from Roku lately, whether it’s in the news, or as part of the streaming platform’s latest marketing push. Good timing, then, since we’ve got some serious decisions to make when it comes to any Black Friday Roku deals. There are a lot of Roku products, which means there are a lot of fantastic Black Friday deals to be had. And one of the most important will be from Roku TV itself.

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Back Friday is the best time to buy a Roku TV — but shop early!

Here’s a fun fact about Roku — they’re almost always on sale. That goes for the Roku players, which includes the best streaming sticks all the way up to Roku Ultra, which is the most powerful Roku you can buy. It rings true, too, for Roku’s new line of soundbars and speakers, which work in conjunction with Roku TVs to make your audio experience better while keeping setup simple.

And it’s also true for Roku TVs, which are among the most popular smart TVs you can buy. There’s a reason for that, and it fits right there in the Roku ethos. A Roku TV means you get the full Roku experience without having to plug in anything except for the television itself. Hook it up to Wi-Fi, and you’re good to go, streaming all the things you want to stream.

And all that means there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll already be able to find deals on Roku streaming sticks and the like ahead of Black Friday, in addition to on the day itself. And that’s all on top of prices that generally tend to be had below the retail listing, just because that’s the way it works. Televisions like Roku TV tend to have a list price that’s mostly just a good idea, sort of way to make you think that the thing is always on sale.

In other words, Black Friday Roku TV deals are great to look out for. There might well be some extra savings come the big day. But it’s also entirely likely that you can get yourself a great Black Friday deal today, without waiting.

And that last part is important given that it’s extremely likely the global shipping crunch is going to extend into the holiday season. So if you’re able to get a pre-Black Friday Roku TV deal, you might want to go ahead and scoop it up — especially because televisions aren’t the smallest things to ship. At least go ahead and buy early if you want to make sure you get your discounted Roku TV in time for the holiday season.

Why buy a Roku TV?

There actually are two questions here. Why buy a Roku TV — and which one should you get?

Roku made its bones by being easy to use, and by being easy on the wallet. The most basic Roku stick costs about $30 — and you often can shave a few bucks off that price. Even the best Roku device — Roku Ultra — tops out at about $100 retail and often can be had for less.

Then there’s Roku TV, which puts the Roku operating system inside a television manufactured by a partner like TCL. They’re extremely popular and offer pretty much the exact same experience, only it’s baked into the TV so you don’t have to plug anything else in if you don’t want to.

And that’s the name of the game for Roku. It’s easy to use and isn’t very expensive. And it allows you to watch pretty much anything you want to watch, whether it’s on Netflix, or Hulu, or Apple TV+. Roku has just about as many apps (it calls them “channels” as you could possibly want. And with apps like The Roku Channel, you’ll be able to watch all kinds of shows, movies, and even live news and sports for free.

TCL is one of the main manufacturers of Roku TV in the United States. It lines things up in “series,” so you’ll see “Series-4,” “Series-6” and “Series-8,” with the sets getting better (and more expensive) as you work your way up. Roku TVs have all the features you’d expect from any television, including 4K resolutions support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos — that sort of thing. And TCL isn’t the only manufacturer that partners with Roku. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for Black Friday TV deals from the likes of Hisense,  and Walmart’s own brand, onn.

And with the likelihood of some serious Roku Black Friday deals on the horizon — if they’re not here already — you’ll be able to save that much more on your Roku experience.