Vizio is getting much more aggressive with advertising, after announcing a new feature called Jump Ads for its smart TV platform that will show banner ads on live TV shows.
Launching as a beta program, the first Vizio TV partner to test Jump Ads is Fox. The broadcaster will run Jump Ads at the end of the first episode of its new documentary comedy Welcome to Flatch.
Jump Ads will appear as a banner that will overlay the show and prompt viewers to continue watching additional episodes of the show or catch up on previous episodes on the Fox Now app.
According to Vizio, this will allow viewers to "seamlessly expand their viewing experience with the click of a button." Vizio will have no control over how and when ads appear on a live TV broadcast, or how often they appear, which could mean Vizio TV owners will find themselves with a viewing experience cluttered with annoying pop-ups and banners.
One step too far?
Vizio isn't the first TV maker to redesign its smart TV platform to display ads more prominently.
Last year, LG came under fire for showing autoplay ads to users trying to update their streaming apps. More recently, Roku TV owners have complained about displaying banner ads on live TV shows.
In the case of Roku TVs, users can opt out of these additions by adjusting their TV's settings and disabling their display's ability to "use information from TV inputs." However, as PCMag noted at the time, it's unclear if disabling this setting means you'll lose out on other, more useful smart TV features.
It's not uncommon for smart TV platforms to display ads on the home screen or main menu, but there certainly seems to be a growing trend of more aggressive advertising invading live streams.
For some, the Jump Ads feature can be really helpful; In a study of 6000 viewers, information technology consultant Accenture found that 60% found the process of navigating between live TV, streaming apps, and different providers "very frustrating," and 44% said it was difficult over six minutes trying to find something I want to watch.
Streamlining the entire process could be a boon to anyone struggling to navigate the immense wealth of smart TV content available today. However, intrusive ads may be a step too far for some consumers, especially if they are shown on live streams, which many would consider separate from the smart TV platform itself.
Furthermore, if these ads were targeted based on viewing habits or other personal data, privacy questions would rightly be raised. We expect our smartphones and internet search engines to serve us personalized ads, but what about our televisions? That may be a step too far.
Via FlatPanelsHD