Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse. : technology

[-] daddy32@lemmy.world 250 points 3 months ago

"each new connected TV platform user generates around $5 per quarter in data and advertising revenue."

Fuck me, this is the amount of money that's enough motivation for them to ruin my experience and make me angry?

I guess regular users have much higher tolerance to ads than me, but our home has a strict zero ad policy.

[-] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 74 points 3 months ago

A quick check online says that Samsung--which has about 25% of the global market--sold at least 1M OLED televisions and 8.3M QLED televisions in 2023. So, let's say that they sell 9.5M televisions annually (I'm not sure if the numbers are global or US-only); that's $190M in pure profit from advertising alone. For a billion-dollar plus corporation, that might seem small, but it's certainly enough to get them to take notice.

[-] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 49 points 3 months ago

Samsung is also trying to make its ACR data more valuable for ad targeting, including through a deal signed in December with analytics firm Experian.

This should add to their profits.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 40 points 3 months ago

Experian, the ~~social credit score~~ credit rating company? Fuuuuuck

[-] PlantJam@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago

Experian has a program where you connect your bank account and they monitor transactions for things that could improve your credit by a couple points. I'm sure they're not also harvesting the rest of your data to use in their analytics, right?

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[-] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 18 points 3 months ago

My jaw dropped when I saw that. Not sure how many people are aware if it.

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[-] Aceticon@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It's even better for them: those $190M are per-year for the lifetime of that TV.

So if for simplification we said they also sold 9.5M TVs in 2021 and again in 2022, in the year of 2024 the will be making $570M from the TVs they sold in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

If Samsung TVs are used in average for 10 years, in 2033 they will still be making money from TVs sold in 2024 and all the years in between. If their rate of sales remains 9.5M per year and how much they generate per quarter in data and advertising revenue from those TVs remains $5 (true, all big simplifications), by 2033 they will be making $1.90 BILLIONS from just this in addition to what they make from selling TVs.

No wonder they're full in on this monetization of users even whilst making user experience significantly worse - they would need to lose a huge number of sales due to this for it to not be worth it for them.

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[-] DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world 143 points 3 months ago

I pity the poor fool who sets up their smart TV instead of just grabbing an HDMI cable and plugging in their computer.

[-] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 112 points 3 months ago

That is beyond the capabilities of normies.

My wife would agree with this:

Media PC

And I've got Plex running on an always on NAS.

[-] BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml 29 points 3 months ago

Lmao that greentext was literally me before I finally set up arrstack. One of the best investments of my time, it has definitely paid off over many years of just having things automatically download.

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[-] ChillPill@lemmy.world 36 points 3 months ago

Ive been pretty happy so far with roku and blocking stuff with pihole, but every day I am more and more tempted to build a media pc...

[-] MagicShel@programming.dev 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is the way to go. I tried pihole using Samsung smart features, but if you block the telemetry eventually your apps stop working and you can't get them working again without doing a factory reset with blocking down. It's prohibitively a pain in the ass, taking hours every time YouTube stops working.

Never had any issues with Roku on pihole.

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[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 102 points 3 months ago

i for one cannot wait for this future

[-] magic_smoke@links.hackliberty.org 36 points 3 months ago

Have you guys started the new season of oww my balls?

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[-] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 28 points 3 months ago

I went to a buddy's house to watch TV and that's how his Xbox Live looks like.

Like they're so oblivious and he's paying for that shit.

[-] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago

With that level of ads, they should get paid to watch it.

[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 21 points 3 months ago

Shut up and drink your verification can

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[-] teft@lemmy.world 68 points 3 months ago

Mine is a monitor and nothing more.

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[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 63 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I am so genuinely surprised that there isnt a bigger movement to hack TVs to replace the OS's on them with non-invasive open software alternatives.

Especially with shit like this.

[-] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 35 points 3 months ago

Because it’s not actually necessary; leave the TV isolated from the internet and use a set-top box (Apple TV, Shield, game console) as the media player.

[-] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 31 points 3 months ago

While I agree, I think this solution is some nonsense. I bought a "TV" and paid for all the hardware and software that went into it, but I essentially have to use it as a monitor with my own hardware to escape the enshittification.

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[-] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 61 points 3 months ago

Don't give your TV the wifi password, kids. No, you don't need to 'finish setting up' your TV; it works just fine as a dumb display.

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[-] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 55 points 3 months ago

Dumb monitor > smart TV.

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[+] Frozyre@kbin.melroy.org 54 points 3 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

[deleted]

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 36 points 3 months ago

Ironically the billboards in my town seem to be disappearing due to lack of use.

The billboards are the only thing that aren't billboards.

[-] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

“We estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individual’s visual field before inducing seizures.” ~Nolan Sorrento

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[-] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 45 points 3 months ago

Average users will not have the knowledge or patience for work arounds.

Imo, the larger problem seems to be the majority of users appear to be fine with ads and data collection just to watch a movie or series.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 44 points 3 months ago

Imo, the larger problem seems to be ~~the majority of users appear to be fine with ads and data collection~~ a lax and ineffective regulation.

"Voting with your wallets" is a false premise dreamed up by corporate to avoid govt regulation and has not and will never be a real thing that works in this world of monopoly and lack of option.

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[-] nodrod@lemmy.world 42 points 3 months ago

First thing I thought of, Idiocracy, love that movie.

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[-] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 34 points 3 months ago

My 10 year old TV which I watch 10 year old TV-series via HDMI from? I don't think so.

Tomorrow there's going to be article about how my car spies on me as if that's not 15 years old too. Or something about my office job that I don't have.

I'm becoming irrelevant. Not the target audience for anything.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

That has also been my strategy (both for TVs and cars), but that doesn't mean it's reasonable to pretend that it's a solution for the general public or that consumer-protection regulation isn't both abundantly warranted and sorely needed.

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[-] chemicalprophet@lemm.ee 33 points 3 months ago

I can barely see the ads whilst sailing the high seas. IP is the fakest of P.

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[-] noisypine@infosec.pub 32 points 3 months ago

Disconnected my TV from the Internet. I stream media from a PC on my lan to Kodi running on a fire stick. Setup openwrt to drop all packets to wan from the fire stick. These companies can get fucked and if they ever figure out a way to stop me from owning my devices, I'll just take up some new hobbies and be done with it all.

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[-] Eric_Pollock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Server to host media. Super easy to set up and can run on a Windows client. Don't even need an independent server to run it on. https://jellyfin.org/

https://kodi.tv/ (or https://libreelec.tv/ for an OS that boots to just Kodi)

Application to watch through Kodi https://github.com/jellyfin/jellycon

Client to run Kodi on: MeLE PCG02 Mini PC Stick https://a.co/d/1EGnekO

If you didn't want to install LibreELEC to the PC and just want to keep Windows, you could run Kodi in Kiosk mode and it would boot directly to it just like LibreELEC.

I have not watched normal TV in years, let alone an ad on my TV. I spoke to my neighbors one day and figured out they were paying ~$60 a month for all their streaming services, and they're STILL getting ads...

Stuff like this is unacceptable, and I refuse to partake in the lunacy and delusion that is modern television.

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[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 28 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Not mine. My TV's my absolute digital bitch. It lets me do anything I want AND nothing, unlike Warren Buffet's kids

[-] DJDarren@thelemmy.club 27 points 3 months ago

My TV is a smart TV whose smart features I never, ever use because the first thing it does is switch to the input my Apple TV is on.

Ironic really that the reason I chose an LG is because webOS seems less cunty than Android TV and whatever shit Samsung are offering. But I still never use it.

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[-] Unlocalhost@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago

Start buying commercial displays. Cost more but will be about as close to a dumb tv. You will have to provide your own smart device for apps ...

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[-] kamen@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Since at one point in the near future I'll be shopping for a TV, is there such a thing as a good quality panel TV that is dumb? I intend to hook it up to a PC or a set top box. Alternatively, is there a smart TV that can be easily bootloader unlocked and rooted without consequences (similarly to how a Pixel phone can)? I realise this is even more niche than unlocking/rooting a phone, but still, someone might have ideas.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 3 months ago

I just bought a smart TV, updated the software, and disconnected it from the Internet, only allowing it access to our local Plex server. No ads and no stupid suggestions. It's great.

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[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago

That's one reason I ditched cable years ago. Why the hell should I pay Comcast for the "privilege" of watching commercials?

Fun fact, Mythbusters episodes have a longer international edit length because America has substantially longer commercial breaks.

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[-] Sabata11792@ani.social 24 points 3 months ago

I revived the old LCD my grandparents were throwing out because it had good specs and no built in ads. Tossed in a new capacitor and it was good to go, otherwise I would just not own a TV.

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[-] nyan@lemmy.cafe 24 points 3 months ago

There is a certain unfortunate irony in the realization that one of the easiest ways to avoid this kind of thing is to buy a commercial digital signage panel intended for advertising instead of a consumer TV.

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[-] fishbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 3 months ago

Jokes on them, my TV can't connect to the internet anymore because of the the bloat added by Roku in automatic updates.

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 19 points 3 months ago

Pro Tip: Connect your TV to your Wi-Fi so the TV doesn’t bother you constantly, and shut off access outside your network at the router level.

[-] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 21 points 3 months ago

Ummm why even connect it at all...let the dumb thing stay offline

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