The South Korean-manufacturing giant rolled out an update earlier this month that forces consumers to see display ads on its app menu screen if they want to take advantage of its sets' smart-TV features.
The only way consumers can avoid the new ads is to disconnect their TVs from the internet, meaning they can't use its menu to access apps from streaming video providers such as Netflix, Hulu and The ads featured on Samsung TVs aren't obtrusive when they first appear at the bottom of the screen but consume a lot of space once highlighted, enlarging to take up a quarter or three-fourths of the screen, depending on the ad.
Over on Reddit, home theater enthusiasts discussing Samsung's recent move aren't happy. "Free service plus ads or paid service plus no ads, pick one Samsung," one user wrote. "Ads are a large reason why I ditched cable, the viewing experience wasn't worth the money with one-third of the broadcast time filled with ads."
Stephen Baker, VP and technology industry analyst at NPD, expressed concern about the longterm effects of Samsung's recent move. "I would be surprised if this had a huge impact on Samsung, at least certainly not in the short term," he said. "But there is a rolling effect to that and in the longer run, I worry about what the impact to sales would be."
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The South Korean-manufacturing giant rolled out an update earlier this month that forces consumers to see display ads on its app menu screen if they want to take advantage of its sets' smart-TV features.
The only way consumers can avoid the new ads is to disconnect their TVs from the internet, meaning they can't use its menu to access apps from streaming video providers such as Netflix, Hulu and The ads featured on Samsung TVs aren't obtrusive when they first appear at the bottom of the screen but consume a lot of space once highlighted, enlarging to take up a quarter or three-fourths of the screen, depending on the ad.
Over on Reddit, home theater enthusiasts discussing Samsung's recent move aren't happy. "Free service plus ads or paid service plus no ads, pick one Samsung," one user wrote. "Ads are a large reason why I ditched cable, the viewing experience wasn't worth the money with one-third of the broadcast time filled with ads."
Stephen Baker, VP and technology industry analyst at NPD, expressed concern about the longterm effects of Samsung's recent move. "I would be surprised if this had a huge impact on Samsung, at least certainly not in the short term," he said. "But there is a rolling effect to that and in the longer run, I worry about what the impact to sales would be."
Thank you!