Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
Luckily I’m not involved in this smart-TV saga in any way, as I haven’t been watching TV since my childhood (there were no smart-TVs back then, but TV shows in my country were shit).
Now my biggest fear is, if enough people realize that smart-TVs are shit, then desktop monitors will start to become “smart” too. My life will be doomed if that happens.