Ads on Google TV home screen

I saw something the other day that I didn't like. There was an ad on the home screen of a Google TV device.

I had launched a Chromecast device and there was an ad for Hardee's breakfast. I didn't like that.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Hardee's breakfast. I just didn't like seeing an ad for it on my Google TV device.

Yes, I know that Google is in the business of making money. And yes, I know that the stuff at the top of the Google TV screen are and have always been ads. The difference is that they are advertising Google TV content, not content for your belly.

Promotional ads suggesting content isn't the same thing as paid ads for things that have nothing to do with streaming content from the device you're using.

Now, I only saw it that one day. I didn't see it yesterday, nor early this morning. And this morning I checked three different Google TV devices: a Sony TV, a Chromecast, and an Onn Stick. All are Google TV devices, and none had ads.

There was an article on AFTVNews blog mentioning the inclusion of ads on Google TV.

Google has now crossed a new line of annoying by including full-length video ads for products and physical goods unrelated to streaming TV. As Reddit users thevincentasteroid and MMD3_ discovered, turning on a Google TV Chromecast device now blasts you with autoplaying video ads for fast food.

The saving grace for Google TV devices, which has never been possible on Fire TV devices, is that it is easy to install an alternate home screen launcher to avoid the ads entirely. While Amazon actively blocks methods to bypass its home screen on Fire TVs, Google does not, and changing the home screen is a relatively simple process. That said, as the Google TV home screen becomes more annoying and intrusive, I suspect it won’t be long before Google begins protecting its revenue stream by also blocking alternate home screen launchers.

The ads on my home screen did not automatically play. Maybe that is because I always have any autoplay settings "off" as I despise autoplay. I can't confirm there is a way to stop them from playing, but I saw the Hardees ad, but it didn't play, because I didn't click on it.

I've not bothered to look into installing an alternate home screen launcher, and have no plans to do that. Oh, I might look into how to do it, but I suspect it'll be "can I do that? I can? Huh. Okay, back to how it was then."

My Streaming Life has used Google TV almost exclusively for the past several months. I started just to see what it was like for a full month, then never went back to Roku. If they start autoplaying ads, I see returning to Roku. I'll stick with Google TV for now, just to see what happens.