Samsung TV users love Samsung TV Plus, a way to watch a plethora of streaming video content for free and no sign-up process. No wonder Samsung TV Plus has grown leaps and bounds over the past few years. Looking at its rise, Google has been expanding its own lineup of free channels on Google TV and is now improving its focus on the feature.
Google TV free channels now have more, unskippable ads
Google is improving its focus on free channels on Google TV, as it could become a big source of advertising revenue for the company. After all, Google is primarily an advertising company. It is now opening up free channels on the Google TV Network to advertisers, which means users will continue to see unskippable ads, but from more advertisers. However, this will likely work, as people will likely not mind ads since they are not paying anything to watch those channels.
In its blog post, Google says its free channels are quite a hit. Over 20 million monthly active users watch free TV channels on Google TV-powered devices, an average of 75 minutes of content daily. There are over 125 free TV channels on the network, and it is rising every few months. These channels are supported by six-second bumper video advertisements, and Google is opening these advertisement spots to more advertisers.
Google will aid advertisers in fine-tuning and optimizing ads for free channels on Android TV and Google TV. The company said more ad formats will come to these channels. For example, Zen Mode, which shows calming scenes and music during breaks, started getting ad-sponsored text and branding.
The story continues after our video on Samsung's 2024 lineup of Neo QLED TVs below.
What does this mean for Google TV viewers? Free channels will now have more kinds of ads and more advertisers. With more ad spots to sell, Google will likely add more free TV channels to Android TV and Google TV devices, leading to more competition between Google TV and Samsung TV Plus.
