‘Pluto TV founder will release free TVs that show ads’

Entrepreneur Ilya Pozin, who founded the free and advertising-supported streaming channel Pluto TV in the past, is reportedly working on a free television that should be recouped through advertising.

Pozin’s start-up is said to be working on it in secret and will unveil its plan later this year. The television is not a common model. The device would have a second screen with the height of a smartphone screen and a width equal to the width of the television. Widgets with useful information such as news and weather could be displayed on this, as well as advertisements. The device would also have an integrated soundbar.

The start-up, which would be called Teevee, would also offer a mobile app for additional functionality. At least initially, the smart part of this smart TV is provided by an included media player, such as a Chromecast. All that reports Janko Roettgers in his Lowpass newsletter. Roettgers was previously a journalist at Protocol. Pozin lives in the United States and it is obvious that this product will be marketed first in the US.

The concept of a television that is at least partly ‘paid’ by showing advertisements is far from new. Numerous televisions on the market now already show advertisements. In addition, the devices often come with apps from major media companies pre-installed. It can of course be defended that this is done as a service to the user, but it is equally conceivable that companies pay television manufacturers for this. Roettgers cites the example of Vizio, which made less than $3 in profit per TV sold in the fourth quarter of last year, but then earned an average of $28.30 per TV from advertising.