If you have a Roku TV, like I do, then perhaps you’ve also enjoyed its cyberpunk screen saver, where a purple-washed “Roku City” full of movie and TV easter eggs scrolls by. It’s become a cult favorite.
It’s also full of ads for real-world brands.
While TV ads aren’t new, manufacturers have found new ways to generate revenue as the way we consume media has changed, per a deep dive from Ars Technica.
In the past…
… network and cable channels aired ads between programming. Now, smart TVs come with operating systems that connect to a bevy of online streaming services, including not just TV/movie platforms but stuff like YouTube and Spotify.
Those platforms have added more ads and ad-supported subscription tiers as a way to increase revenue, and so have TV manufacturers, who are finding that budget-conscious consumers are spending less on TVs and replacing them less often.
Common ad placements might include:
- Home screen or screen saver
- Free streaming TV channels
- That Netflix button on your remote
But revenue might also…
… come from data. Just like your phone and your web browser, your TV can track and share information about you.
This leads to several dystopian scenarios in which the content you consume — and info about when and how you consume it — is constantly monitored so that advertisers can better convince you to buy stuff from the comfort of your living room through increasingly intrusive shoppable ads.
You’ve likely already seen shoppable ads on YouTube and TikTok, but TV is getting in on them, too:
- Amazon announced carousel ads that pop up during Prime Video ad breaks, and ads that appear when viewers pause content.
- Walmart wants to acquire TV manufacturer Vizio and its OS for $2.3B, positioning it as an opportunity not just for Walmart, but also its advertisers.
Ars suggests turning off ACR (automatic content recognition) if any of this bothers you, though that may be tricky or impossible for some models.
We’re likely just stuck with ads, just like we were before we cut cords.
BTW: Maybe Amazon was just foreshadowing these ads from its series “Electric Dreams”?
