You’ve heard of ad-supported TV streaming, now get ready for an ad-supported TV screen. pluto tv Co-founder Ilya Pozin officially took the wraps off new startup Telly, which plans to eventually give away millions of free TVs that constantly broadcast ads to viewers.
Telly TV has a 55-inch, 4k HDR home screen with stylish features like microphone, HD camera, LED mood lighting and motion sensors for interactive gaming. Users can set it up based on their operating system of choice — whether it’s Roku, Fire TV, or old-school cable — as ad rotation and sponsored news tickers appear on separate screens at the bottom.
“Consumers have not been an equal part of the advertising value exchange for a long time,” Pozin said in a presentation last week (via hollywood reporter)“Companies make billions of dollars from advertising on TV, but consumers have historically had to pay for TV and what they watch. All that has changed today. When I co-founded Pluto TV , we’ve created a whole new model that delivers great TV content to viewers for free. Now, with Telly, we’re also offering real TV for free.”
Pozin insisted that the Telly TV “isn’t a cheap TV by any means,” and it traditionally sells for $1,000. In addition to advertising, Telly will also monetize audience data; as Pozin explained, customers will receive TVs in exchange for information such as household demographics.
“We know who you are, we know where you live, we know your income, we know what car you drive, we know when your lease is up,” Pozin said. “We know what your favorite brand is. We know your favorite sports team, so when you first bring your TV home, scan the QR code with your phone, all the data is already there.”
Other popular smart TVs like Roku, Amazon Fire, and Google Chromecast have dropped to near-zero prices thanks to a similar strategy of selling user data to advertisers; avoid”. We assume that the future is now.