Like other companies with streaming businesses, DirecTV is leaning into ads more.
  • J92@lemmy.world
    2·
    16 hours ago

    I was scrolling through my LG TV’s settings not long ago and the amount of times it vampirically suggested I invite it onto my WiFi made me laugh.

    No my friend, you’re my dumb TV. My laptop already doesn’t allow ads, so why would I need you to for a less navigable UI?

  • Reygle@lemmy.world
    8·
    22 hours ago

    Bwahahahaha! I don’t even watch TV any more. Every time I wind up at my parent’s home I cannot believe the idiocy that’s on the TV. Ball game is on? They’ve made sure it’s impossible that a single frame of the feed does not show at least one advertisement, whether “splashed” over the video or covering every square inch of the location they’re broadcasting.

    “Television” is officially dead to me, but I get that a lot of people still watch it. What I don’t understand is WHY they do.

    • jqubed@lemmy.world
      53·
      2 days ago

      Shareholders and marketers want this.

      It has become increasingly important for DirecTV to diversify revenue beyond satellite and Internet subscriptions. DirecTV had over 20 million subscribers in 2015; in 2024, streaming business publication Next TV, citing an anonymous source “close to the company,” reported that the AT&T-owned firm was down to about 11 million subscribers.

      Simultaneously, the streaming industry—including streaming services and streaming software—has been increasingly relying on advertising to boost revenue. For some streaming service providers, increasing revenue through ads is starting to eclipse the pressure to do so through subscriber counts. Considering DirecTV’s declining viewership and growing interest in streaming, finding more ways to sell ads seems like a natural progression.

      With legacy pay TV providers already dealing with dwindling subscriptions, introducing new types of ads risks making DirecTV less appealing as well.

      And it’s likely that things won’t end there.

      “This, we can integrate across different places within the television,” [advertisement provider] Glance COO Mansi Jain told The Verge. “We are starting with the screensaver, but tomorrow… we can integrate it in the launcher of the TV.”

          • Zink@programming.dev
            3·
            23 hours ago

            I think we are seeing “late abandoner” costs with large groups of people. It’s like paying high “early adopter” costs but instead of getting new technology for it, you get the comfort of hanging on to old stuff as its business model circles the drain and the executives piloting the sinking ships bleed the dwindling customer base for whatever they can.

  • NocturnalEngineer@lemmy.world
    24·
    2 days ago

    I don’t get how this would ever be a good idea.

    I would be extremely uncomfortable seeing my face in adverts, even for products I use. I’m already uncomfortable with adverts using personal recommendations based on tracking my web history & habits.

    I actively avoid those products in the future, and I can only see this alienating their marketing base further.

  • reddig33@lemmy.worldEnglish
    38·
    2 days ago

    In case you were wondering how they would get a picture of the users face…

    “DirecTV’s screensavers will let a user create an AI avatar of themself by scanning a QR code on the screensaver”

  • bulwark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    25·
    2 days ago

    I’d be more angry about this, but I just found out that DirecTV is still in business.

  • MrEff@lemmy.world
    24·
    2 days ago

    Oh, you mean the real reason there has been a push to get us to use face ID verification on every site that depends on ads?

  • hotdogcharmer@lemmy.zip
    211·
    2 days ago

    Marketers ruin everything. Marketers are liars. I’ve worked with marketing departments in every job I’ve ever had, and they’re scum every time. Social media obsessed weirdos who can’t do anything honest and authentic. Freaks.

  • rem26_art@fedia.io
    16·
    2 days ago

    DirecTV’s screensavers will let a user create an AI avatar of themself by scanning a QR code on the screensaver. Afterward, they can use the avatar to browse through different AI content. Users will also reportedly be able to dress up their AI avatars, allowing Glance’s screensaver to recommend real-life products to purchase by performing a reverse-image search.

    Who is gonna even willingly do this? You’re not creating a Mii to put into Wii Sports. It’s just to advertise to you.

    (the company Glance, mentioned in the quote, is the company providing the AI screensaver ad technology to DirecTV)