Typically, you don’t ever associate a brand new 4K HDR TV with the word “free”, but it seems one company is looking to break that ice. Not by offering sweepstakes giveaways but by covering the cost of your new TV using ads. This is what Telly is looking to accomplish and it is taking reservations now.
Telly is a company by Ilya Pozin (Pluto TV co-founder) who is looking to make 4K TVs more available to users using this method. It is a 55” 4K HDR theater display that comes with a streaming stick so that you have your favorite apps to pick from (or you can feed it with any other streaming or gaming device). It even has a built-in 5-driver soundbar so the consumer doesn’t have to buy one for that extended sound experience.
It supports video calls, has a built-in digital assistant (“Hey Telly”), a game room function, and fitness features. So what’s the catch? There is a smaller second screen under the soundbar that displays various elements like the weather, as well as advertisements. These advertisements are meant to pay for the cost of the TV and then some (since they clearly won’t end after the price of the TV has been earned back by the company). It also likely tracks everything you watch and reports home so it can sell these analytics to networks, streaming companies, and advertisers.
The company plans on giving away 500,000 of these TVs using this method, meaning there will be a high chance of receiving one if you sign up. There are some restrictions as it is only available in the US (likely for differences in privacy requirements between nations), but it’s as easy as signing up via the company’s website.
In a way, it’s kind of a genius idea. In other ways, it kind of reminds me of Idiocracy, being surrounded by multiple screens and a ton of advertisements. Thankfully, this isn’t as extreme as that, but the connection is still there.
It will be interesting to see how well this plays out. Companies have tried doing similar things before when it comes to browsers, software, and plugins. Some of them even offered to share proceeds with users if they kept these elements on their computer screens at all times. Allowing for tiny increments of monthly income like users could earn from taking surveys. However, most if not all of these companies eventually vanished pretty quickly. There will also likely be a lot of privacy concerns, so you’ll want to read all of the small print.
