Pluto TV needs no introduction at this point, and one of the reasons behind its success is having kept the right amount of advertising in its broadcasts. Ilya Pozin, one of Pluto TV's co-founders, believes he can repeat that formula in a very particular way: giving away TVs. His new startup Teevee aims to distribute free televisions with two screens, and one of them will be completely dedicated to advertising.
Many users had the chance to get to know Pluto TV during the pandemic and haven't looked back since. The explosion of FAST (acronym for Free Ad-supported Streaming Television) was remarkable, but Pluto TV managed to stay on top and now registers about 80 million monthly users.
Its channel guide has changed a lot over time; however, one of the most interesting aspects is exploring its content—“zapping” in the browser, so to speak.
Even with the acquisition by Viacom in 2019, Pluto TV managed to expand its availability (including a Windows 11 app) and maintain a reasonable advertising profile, which already existed before.
Teevee: Would you accept a free TV with ads?
The idea isn't exactly new: at one point, Amazon offered its Fire tablets with an average discount of $15 in exchange for receiving ads on the lock screen. But Teevee (which has no commercial relationship with Pluto TV, I should add) bets on distributing free TVs to recover the investment and ultimately profit from ads.
Technical details about the TV itself are relatively scarce, but we know it will have a secondary screen, about the height of a mobile phone, covering the entire width of the TV. In addition to showing ads, that second screen will be compatible with widgets like weather, breaking news, and other special details (e.g., sports scores).
Still, the TV wouldn't be what we'd call “smart”. Apparently, the device will include a soundbar and have “a decent size”, but it will most likely need some kind of smart box/dongle and a mobile app to extend the platform's features.
The official page with domain freetelly.com suggests the service will be called Telly, but there's no information there. The only thing we know is that Pozin has recruited several ex-Vizio employees (a company dedicated to TVs and advertising) and from Pluto TV itself.
So, is the idea of free ad-supported TVs really that ridiculous? Like the aforementioned Fire tablet, many products are already financed to a greater or lesser extent by advertising (preinstalled apps on phones and bloatware on new computers are also good examples). The real question is: what will stop users from covering the second screen or hacking the TV...?
Official site: Click here. Source: Lowpass.
