Cheap TVs' Incessant Advertising Reaches Troubling New Lows 68
An anonymous reader quotes an op-ed from Ars Technica's Scharon Harding: TVs offer us an escape from the real world. After a long day, sometimes there's nothing more relaxing than turning on your TV, tuning into your favorite program, and unplugging from the realities around you. But what happens when divisive, potentially offensive messaging infiltrates that escape? Even with streaming services making it easy to watch TV commercial-free, it can still be difficult for TV viewers to avoid ads with these sorts of messages. That's especially the case with budget brands, which may even force controversial ads onto TVs when they're idle, making users pay for low-priced TVs in unexpected, and sometimes troubling, ways. [...]
Buying a budget TV means accepting some trade-offs. Those trade-offs have historically been around things like image quality and feature sets. But companies like Vizio are also asking customers to accept questionable advertising decisions as they look to create new paths to ad revenue. Numerous factors are pushing TV OS operators deeper into advertising. Brands are struggling to grow profits as people buy new TVs less frequently. As the TV market gets more competitive, hardware is also selling for cheaper, with some companies selling TVs at a loss with hopes of making up for it with ad sales. There's concern that these market realities could detract from real TV innovation. And as the Secretary Noem ad reportedly shown to Vizio TV owners has highlighted, another concern is the lack of care around which ads are being shown to TV owners -- especially when all they want is simple "ambient background" noise.
Today, people can disable ambient mode settings that show ads. But with some TV brands showing poor judgment around where they sell and place ads, we wouldn't bank on companies maintaining these boundaries forever. If the industry can't find a way to balance corporate needs with appropriate advertising, people might turn off not only their TVs more often, but also unplug from those brands completely. Some of the worst offenders highlighted in the article include Vizio TVs' "Scenic Mode," which activates when the TV is idle and displays "relaxing, ambient content" accompanied by ads. Roku City takes a similar approach with its animated cityscape screensaver, saturated with brand logos and advertisements. Even Amazon Fire TV and premium brands like LG have adopted screensaver ads, showing that this intrusive trend isn't limited to budget models.
Buying a budget TV means accepting some trade-offs. Those trade-offs have historically been around things like image quality and feature sets. But companies like Vizio are also asking customers to accept questionable advertising decisions as they look to create new paths to ad revenue. Numerous factors are pushing TV OS operators deeper into advertising. Brands are struggling to grow profits as people buy new TVs less frequently. As the TV market gets more competitive, hardware is also selling for cheaper, with some companies selling TVs at a loss with hopes of making up for it with ad sales. There's concern that these market realities could detract from real TV innovation. And as the Secretary Noem ad reportedly shown to Vizio TV owners has highlighted, another concern is the lack of care around which ads are being shown to TV owners -- especially when all they want is simple "ambient background" noise.
Today, people can disable ambient mode settings that show ads. But with some TV brands showing poor judgment around where they sell and place ads, we wouldn't bank on companies maintaining these boundaries forever. If the industry can't find a way to balance corporate needs with appropriate advertising, people might turn off not only their TVs more often, but also unplug from those brands completely. Some of the worst offenders highlighted in the article include Vizio TVs' "Scenic Mode," which activates when the TV is idle and displays "relaxing, ambient content" accompanied by ads. Roku City takes a similar approach with its animated cityscape screensaver, saturated with brand logos and advertisements. Even Amazon Fire TV and premium brands like LG have adopted screensaver ads, showing that this intrusive trend isn't limited to budget models.
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Using your idle TV as a billboard.
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tldr ;P
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Why are we only watching one ad at once? Multitasking for the win! AdGrid.com !
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I'm guessing every consumer equipment company is researching ways to grab some of that sweet, sweet ad revenue. Remember the ruckus about Jeep's entertainment system showing ads every time you stopped? Do you think users would purchase oscilloscopes, DVMs, or spectrum analyzers if they had to wait through 30 seconds of ads each time they turned them on? Companies are trying to find a balance between free ad revenue and disappointed customers.
The best way to combat this is spread the word which TVs, elect
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Would totally buy a TV that blocks ads, commercials or sponsor messages. Would pay a hefty premium for it, too.
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I did the opposite, bought a Roku TV, and use it as a monitor for a cheap android box with Blokada on it instead of Roku's malware.. Works great, and any money Roku spends on implementing ads is a complete waste.
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Its not just slinging the slop, but also grabbing that prized analytic data and vacuuming that up to sell. The problem is that companies don't really care that they may make more for an ad-free TV... they just want that cash regardless.
In the past, it used to be that just using the TV in "dumb" mode and having everything come in through HDMI was good enough. Now, I'm reading about TVs that don't even function unless plugged into Ethernet, or Wi-Fi to download "security updates", even though a TV should ne
Re: I Missed It (Score:2)
I have a 'smart tv', I just don't have it connected to the internet
I tried putting it on an air-gapped network so I could do screen casting, but it seems that even if your phone is on the same wifi, there's some handshaking with the outside world that has to happen to use it... so I have to resort to a cable for that.
I don't know if I'd get better guide info if it were connected... and I have to go in and fix the clock drift every few months (and for DST)
Re: I Missed It (Score:3)
Re: I Missed It (Score:2)
That makes for great dystopian future media content though.
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People who leave their energy-guzzling large screen TVs on when they're not watching, are now served ads in the background. Shocking, I tells you. Just turn off the TV when not watching.
Y'all..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't. Connect. Your. TV. To. Your. Network.
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Oh, don't worry. Pretty soon manufacturers will charge advertisers big premiums to pre-load ads right in the TV firmware...
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Your next TV will contain a SIM card.
HDMI is a real thing! Use the HDMI port, not the built-in tuner. All the streaming services work with a web browser on linux. And YouTube can be adblocked with UblockOrigin, etc.
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They're working on that issue.
https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]
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They're working on that issue.
https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]
So we know not to buy Roku for the next X years until the patent expires and then everything will suck except raspberry pi's, thanks to Roku.
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No problem here. There is no OTA TV.
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And then, companies will require Internet, add cellular modems, etc. :(
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And then, companies will require Internet, add cellular modems, etc. :(
They're way ahead of you... Some models now demand to be connected to a network before any other feature will work... including the HDMI ports.
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Argh! Which brands and models are these now so we can avoid? Do their boxes' descriptions mention these requirements too?
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Argh! Which brands and models are these now so we can avoid? Do their boxes' descriptions mention these requirements too?
I wish I knew, I doubt it's prominently displayed on the outside of the box. I haven't bought a TV in years and am not looking forward to the prospect.
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Broadcast TV is dying as people move to streaming, which necessitates connecting the TV to the network.
Re: Y'all..... (Score:2)
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Problem is those are full of ads too.
Re: Y'all..... (Score:2)
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Not true, at least not currently.
TV is a consumption device, it does nothing unless it is connected to a source. Advertising exploits that, and it cannot change regardless of the underlying structure of the devices and technologies.
Content is paid for somehow, to date it has been paid for by advertising (or paid indirectly as complimentary content not directly monetized). The problem with ads isn't their necessity, it's corporate greed.
There's a good argument to be made that advertising is a far worse pro
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They already have Ethernet network protocol built into the newer HDMI spec. I'm amazed that someone hasn't figured out a way to use it to download ads directly from the Roku or XBox or whatever other Internet enabled device plugged into your "Smart" TV with disabled Wi-Fi.
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It's the only way to make your tv smarter than oneself, though. Hook that thing up! Be dumber than an appliance! /s
Someone watched Idiocracy (Score:2)
It wasn't meant as a manual....
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I'm starting to realize that some people out there actually LIKE being advertised to. Maybe it makes them feel important and needed? I don't know.
For myself, I hate ads so irrationally much that I will never buy a product because its advertised to me and won't give my money to companies that saturate the world with ads like Geico, but my hatred is offset by these other people.
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An old friend literally pays his own money to advertise to other people. He wears a $60 t-shirt with a giant brand logo on it instead of buying a $3 plain one.
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Hah. good point.
Re: Someone watched Idiocracy (Score:2)
He does this because women (or whatever) see it and say "wow he has $60 to spend on a t-shirt, I should try to fuck him".
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It's perfectly rational. The messaging is hostile at this point. Most people want hostility out of their lives.
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Well, I do hate ads, but there are some potential reasons that companies sometimes offer something others don't for whatever reason and that's why you use them.
Geico for instance offers the mechanical breakdown insurance that seems like quite a sweet spot between mfg warranty ending on a new car at 3y/36k and the horribly high and expensive up front cost of an extended warranty.
Re: Someone watched Idiocracy (Score:2)
I just want to be able to order some extra big-ass fries.
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...and here I was salting my crops. Thanks for explaining this to me! Do you have literature I can read about which sources of information are bad? I'm trying to improve my media literacy.
Also, did you know, you can use motor oil to fertilize your lawn? /s
\o/ (Score:3, Informative)
If a small fraction spent on advertising was instead spent on making good quality products which solve customer problems.. that would be a multi-win - for customers, victims/viewers of advertising, for vendors and a smaller market for advertisers - yay \o/
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As a communications person, I have long advocated that the level of channel saturation, and the ever increasing number of channels in inappropriate places (like gas pumps), and the volume increases, and everything else...
Well, that means that traditional advertising has failed. Years ago. If someone can't hear you, you shout at them. If they still can't hear you, you shout at them in places they don't expect, like the library, in church, and while they're in the bathroom. You increase the number channels. V
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It seems desire to sell stuff is funding almost everything these days. Who knows how the world will look if we need to start paying for things we want! Perhaps there's no incentive to fix it...
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As a communications person, I have long advocated that the level of channel saturation, and the ever increasing number of channels in inappropriate places (like gas pumps), and the volume increases, and everything else...
Well, that means that traditional advertising has failed... An advertiser is having to go to these extremes specifically because their messages are not being received.
As a "communications person", have you ever considered that the end game isn't to sell specific products, but rather to fuel a consumerist culture in which buying stuff you don't need and sometimes don't even want is normal and expected behaviour? I think that "shouting louder" you mentioned is more about that than it is about people 'turning off' in the face of advertising.
The traditional ad industry is an emperor without clothes, and I'm convinced it's on the verge of collapse.
Contrary to the Devil's Advocate response I gave above, I also frequently think advertising must be mostly snake oil. I'm not confident
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It's running on inertia and boomer CEO clients who don't know better now.
While I generally agree with your post, I do want to point out that you need to better consider who to blame. To have a "boomer CEO" the person would have to be in their mid-60's, which means most of the boomers have retired, and the few remaining ones will be gone in the next 3-5 years. Increasingly, it's Gen-X who's in charge now.
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There are no "not smart" TVs. At least not where I live (the United States).
Every single flatscreen TV has an OS now. Are you running a CRT? Maybe you mean only an idiot connects a smart TV to the Internet?
Note: I define TV as something with an antenna jack that can pull broadcasts from the air with an appropriate antenna. This now requires a smart digital decoder in the US. If you're instead talking about a monitor, well, that 1) ain't a TV, and 2) Likely also has an OS.
Roku Tv's... (Score:2)
You can turn the ad's off via a combination of secret menus and pihole. Mine just shows blank spots. :)
It worked for laptop makers (Score:3)
Uh editors forgot the article link - here it is (Score:5, Insightful)
I do not care how many fucking times you try (Score:2)
Our TV ... (Score:2)
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My TVs are just large computer monitors, as my wife and I haven't watched broadcast TV in nearly 20 years. Our now-teenage kids watched broadcast TV one time, and they hated the commercial interruptions. They haven't watched broadcast TV since then.
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Never connect a "Smart TV" to the network!!! (Score:2)
One Million... (Score:2)
race to the bottom (Score:3)
nah (Score:2)
Oxymoron of the day. (Score:2)
"real TV innovation."
I did get a giggle out of it, so it's not a complete loss.
Wait, we're talking about the screensaver? (Score:2)
Why does this matter? If some corp is dumb enough to pay for product placement on a screensaver I'm not going to begrudge a TV or device maker fleecing a sucker.
SPOILER ALERT: Nobody watches a screensaver.
I mean, that's the point. A screensaver activates to prevent screen burn-in because media is paused or you're on idle the fixed screen main menu. I have a Roku, and I never noticed this "new low" in the half second I go from seeing the screensaver to pressing the home button.
I am against ads - and pay for
Frequency? (Score:2)
Brands are struggling to grow profits as people buy new TVs less frequently.
Let's see, I bought a 27" tube TV with stereo sound in 1989 (with S-Video as well as NTSC inputs!), and then a 43" 4K set in 2015 to finally upgrade, and my newest one, another 43" 4K, in 2017 for the guest room, trying to beat tariffs the first time. And there was a 43" 4K computer monitor sometime in there, too. Does that count? I will only buy new TVs/monitors when the old ones die or turn 25, I guess.