SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the Grandpa-what-was-TV-like-before-it-was-enshittified? dept.
OEMs are increasingly focused on using TVs as a way to show customers ads:
People who buy a Fire TV from Amazon are probably looking for a cheap and simple way to get an affordable 4K smart TV. When Amazon announced its first self-branded TVs in September 2021, it touted them as being a "great value." But owners of the devices will soon be paying for some of those savings in the form of more prominently displayed advertisements.
[...] Some of the changes targeting advertisers, like connecting display placement ads with specific in-stream video ads, seem harmless enough. Others could jeopardize the TV-watching experience for owners.
For example, Amazon is preparing to make Alexa with generative AI more useful for finding content on Fire TVs. This could help Alexa, which has struggled alongside other tech giants' voice assistants to generate significant revenue. Amazon gets money every time someone interacts with digital content through Alexa.
However, the company is double-dipping on this idea by also tying ads to generative AI on Fire TVs. When users ask Alexa to help them find media with queries such as "play the show with the guy who plays the lawyer in Breaking Bad," they will see ads that are relevant to the search.
[...] Maines told StreamTV Insider that advertisers had been asking for a way to advertise against Fire TV searches. "It just makes sense to expand our existing sponsor tile offering to show advertisements on the search screen with no extra effort or cost for the advertiser," she said.
[...] Amazon Fire TV users will also start seeing banner ads on the device's home screen for things that have nothing to do with entertainment or media. This ad space was previously reserved for advertising media and entertainment, making the ads feel more relevant, at least. Amazon opening the ad space to more types of advertisers is similar to a move Google TV made early this year.
The company seems to be aware of how dominating these types of advertisements can be. Maines emphasized to StreamTV Insider how the native ads are "right at the top of the Fire TV's home screen" and take "up half the screen."
[...] The banner ads will occupy the first slot in the rotating hero area, which Amazon believes is the first thing Fire TV users see. These users may have purchased a Fire TV primarily for streaming content from ad-free subscriptions, but Maines described how Fire TVs can still manage to force ads on these users.
[...] The changes mirror similar moves from others in the TV maker industry.
Vizio has been shifting its business toward advertising for the past few years. Its Q2 2023 earnings report showed its ad business growing 28 percent compared to the same period in 2022, versus a 15 percent increase for the device business. The device business was still larger that quarter ($252.1 million compared to $142.3 million), but it's clear that the company is eyeing advertising as the way forward.
[...] TV giant LG is also moving that way, CEO William Cho announced in July. In a press release that month, LG said it "intends to transform its TV business portfolio into a 'media and entertainment service provider' by expanding content, services, and advertisement in products."
And then there's Telly—the upcoming TV that has a second screen geared toward showing advertisements, including if the TV is turned off. The screen can also show other content, like sports scores or the weather, but its primary gimmick is that the device is given away for free. The cost, instead, comes from a wealth of mandatory data collection used for selling advertisements and products.
Amazon's Fire TV ad push is reflective of many parts of the TV industry. With TV makers today increasingly focused on selling ads on their devices, we'll continue seeing ads stuffed into TV operating systems, potentially at the cost of UI and hardware improvements. TV sellers, similar to the streaming companies whose apps those TVs serve up, have grown increasingly focused on pleasing advertisers and investors with continuous growth and recurring revenue sources. While those parties may smile, customers are left stomaching more ads on TVs that are collecting more data on them.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday November 14 2023, @12:09AM
I only use OTA TV via a nice small CRT TV and a digital converter box. Yea, it has advertising, but the few times I actually watch something, I can still change the channel, mute the audio, and/or get up to do something else when the commercials come on. Sometimes they do fuck around with the timing of the commercials, but given the quality of TV shows, I can't possibly care if I wind up missing a few minutes.