There are no ads in the AppleTV operating system itself.
The only Apple “ads” I ever see are inside the Apple TV+ app (yeah, their naming is confusing…) and it’s only for TV shows they’re promoting in their streaming service.
I installed an AppleTV recently, so I don't have much experience. But the first thing I saw after the initial setup was one/third of the display advertising a TV-show on a subscription service I had to purchase. Would that count as an ad?
Apps placed in the top row of the app grid get to display content at the top area, when that app is selected. Most apps use it for things like continue watching or show recommendations.
That’s very different from turning on your TV and seeing an ad for Mercedes or whatever taking up the screen.
On the Apple TV you get ‘ads’ for the apps you have in your top row, with different levels of interactivity. Some are just logos of that streaming service, some show recently watched. The Apple TV app has full-blown ads for Apple TV+ originals.
They won’t actually let you delete the Apple TV app, but if you move it out of the top row you will never see the ads.
My parents have an Amazon Fire TV and when I go to their house and have to use it it drives me insane. Carousels of adds large at the top, banner ads as you scroll, full rows of sponsored apps. Full screen ads for random Amazon products when you pause any show you are watching. Everything you watch on Amazon’s streaming service has minute long unskippable ads. Sometimes when you turn it on Alexa will just verbally read you ads.
This is like the Rick and Morty “you pass the butter” joke.
All the talented engineers pouring into AI realising they’ve just been used as tools of the ad-tech market to serve more ads to people. That’s their real purpose.
Please get out and go and make something better. Before even your most treasured moments, like reading kids bedtime stories, become commodified with ads.
The crazy part of that is how much it undermines all the apocalyptic hype about AGI replacing our entire workforce. Surprise, it's just another app filled with ads and premium subscriptions.
I've seen some on private sites. My guess is they are not popular enough yet. Or pirates are using specific hardware to bypass Widevine encryption (like an Nvidia Shield and burning keys periodically) that doesn't easily get the AV1 streams.
Remember when the Youtube app overrode the AppleTV screensavers, to show their own screensavers if Youtube was paused.
Any other app, you leave a video paused, the OS screensaver will come on. Those beautiful, aerial screensavers that are better than any screensaver I've ever seen in all my decades of working with computers. So of course the Youtube app had to block them with their own shitty variant. They have no taste and no respect.
Your comment is past tense - does that mean they’ve stopped doing this? Please, Lord. I had to set my ATV to go to screensaver in a ridiculously short amount of time to preempt the YouTube one.
It was in place for a couple of days, tops, before they reverted it. The backlash was immense and immediate. And with good reason: in addition to the obvious reasons why it sucked, the YouTube screensavers just looked terrible. I couldn't believe how bad they were.
It's quite obvious that these devices are a prototype for some eventual immersive AR glasses. Sure, they are currently bulky and heavy and have poor battery life and block your face. But these companies hope to eventually iterate all of that away.
This is the groundwork. But I don't know if they have a larger vision (pun intended) other than "oh shit, the smartphone industry has been conquered and now sees diminishing returns, we need something else to generate revenue".
That's actually true. You are absolutely right. Computers used to be a size of a bedroom. So yeah, this is not the end game at all.
I would think that the most ultimate end state would be (sci-fi mode ON) some kind of implants, retina projections... It's ridiculous to say this things, but best form factor is to get the value without any form:)
Depends on the TV brand. I use an LG OLED TV and it’s 100% fine being used as a “dumb” TV. I keep it disconnected and use an AppleTV. I never see the TV’s operating system unless I want to adjust picture settings.
Apple gets a lot of criticism but one thing I do like is that their devices at least respect me. The AppleTV streaming box has no ads in the OS and OS-level data sharing is opt-out.
It’s nothing inherently bad with “smart” devices. Just the business models behind them.
The only Apple “ads” I ever see are inside the Apple TV+ app (yeah, their naming is confusing…) and it’s only for TV shows they’re promoting in their streaming service.