Company announces new ad push on smart TVs

Jan 25, 2017 12:11 GMT  ·  By

Advertisements will soon become really intrusive for Philips customers, as the company is preparing to bring them on their smart TVs with a firmware update.

Specifically, smart TVs manufactured by Philips will be invaded with ads in the smart TV menu, with banners to be displayed in the top right corner, but also before launching installed apps.

Additionally, the firm is also preparing video ads, which will be displayed in the same menus, and by the looks of things, there won’t be a setting to opt out of these advertisements.

It appears that some models have already been updated with a new firmware version to display ads in the smart TV menu and the company says that devices manufactured in 2013 have received this update this week. 2014 Philips smart TVs will also get the update in the coming future, Philips said.

Some TVs already showing ads

We can confirm that Philips 40PFL3008H/12 manufactured in 2013 started showing ads in the smart TV menu earlier this week, although the firmware version still appears to be VES221E_2.2.6p (dated September 30, 2014).

Ads are displayed in the top right corner when pressing the smart TV button on the remote, and when clicked, they go full screen, leaving the menu in the background. Closing it returns the viewer to the same smart TV menu.

Although bringing advertisements on TVs will be super-intrusive for customers, Philips says it’s working with a company called Improve Digital on making the whole experience truly personal, so ads will vary by country, used apps, and watched channels.

And even though some people would normally expect these ads to make TVs cheaper, because after all Philips is generating revenue with them, that’s not going to happen. As Myce reports, Philips wants to offer free apps and videos to customers who see these ads in exchange for a ruined smart TV experience.

Furthermore, the company says that advertisers will be very happy with its new approach, mostly because they will be able to target customers with ads that cannot be blocked by ad blockers.