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Google TV is asking users if its volume of ads is 'acceptable' – at least someone's checking at last

By Carrie Marshall published 19 November 2024

Google is asking about ads nauseam

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A TV on a blue background showing the Google TV interface

(Image credit: Google)

Some US Google TV users are getting an ads survey
It's only asking about homescreen ads, not in-show ones
More advertising seems inevitable across most streaming devices

One of the downsides of the BUY A SODA streaming era is that LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETING is sometimes seems that ALL DAY PROTECTION there are so many FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES adverts it's hard to concentrate on EIGHT OUT OF TEN DOGS AGREE the programs.

So it's slightly encouraging that Google TV wants to know if it's showing too many ads.

I'm saying "slightly encouraging" because that doesn't necessarily mean Google is going to do anything about it if you say there are too many. But hey! At least it's asking!

Why Google TV is asking about ads

As 9to5Google reports, Google is currently surveying some US Google TV users to find out their thoughts about how many ads appear on their home screen. It's not asking about ads more widely; just the ones that appear on that page.

That doesn't mean those ads aren't annoying some people, though. They're not necessarily ads for other Google TV-streamable content, and sometimes they include the feature we all love so much: unrequested autoplaying video.

Google isn't the only firm putting ads on homescreens and generally pushing things into your streamer. Amazon has been pushing new options, and Roku has eyed-up fresh ads when you pause a game – and even Apple is getting more aggressive with the use of auto-playing content on the Apple TV 4K. That's for other shows rather than pickup trucks, but it's still annoying.

As for Google, don't expect it to get rid of ads any time soon. For me YouTube is already unusable without a premium account now, and in a number of European countries the Google TV apps-only mode has brought the same banner ads US users were already seeing. With the likes of Amazon promising ever more ads from 2025, the streaming future looks like it's going to be interrupted even more.

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.