A streaming box. These ads are not appearing on the hardware of the device, but on the TVs that license the software platform.
A thread on the r/cordcutters subreddit says that some smart TV owners are seeing banner ads.
A user named p3t3or posted a message.
This is the last time I recommend or buy a Roku. I just got a Roku ad sidebar after watching a Sleep Number commercial. This is a deal breaker for me, because I loved the experience up until now.
The message was accompanied by a photo.
An ad appears over a sports game on a Sharp TV.
The photo shows a Sharp TV running a software program that allows you to watch live sports and an ad for a bed that is displayed over a live sports broadcast.
The ads don't appear on the hardware of the company. They show up on certain smart TVs that are running the Roku TV platform. The owners of the TVs said they had not seen the ads.
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The feature can be disabled in privacy settings according to users in the thread. It's possible that disabling other features may be done.
There are other platforms that add ads to content. Users have complained before about ads being featured prominently on TVs, and while we haven't seen any reports of ads appearing over live content on webOS TVs, they do appear in other places in the TV's software.
As we previously reported, some of these platforms collect and monetize user data.
It's rare for software and services that receive ongoing free support and updates to operate without showing ads or user data. TV and platform makers are looking for ways to generate recurring revenue, since the profit margins on TVs can be small and the support costs can be high.
There is no clear end to the trend of user complaints.
We asked for clarification about which devices serve these ads and what the effects of disabling them in settings would be.
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