Summary

  • Google TV adds large ads under the “Continue watching” section, featuring QR codes and banners.
  • Ads for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are appearing, filling the majority of the UI and directing users to Bethesda’s website.
  • The new ads aren’t currently visible for everyone.



Google TV is infamously packed with ads. Last month, Google pushed surveys to some Google TV users asking whether they thought the amount of ads on the home screen was acceptable — shortly before beginning testing for a new type of home screen ad that includes QR codes. Now, as spotted by 9to5Google, large ads have started showing up in a new spot: under the Continue watching section on the home screen.

The Continue watching strip shows thumbnails of content you’ve recently watched in supported apps, giving you the option to pick up where you left off. It’s prominently placed in Google TV’s UI, just under the Your apps section, which itself is right below the big For you strip that occupies the top section of the home screen. That means that when your cursor is in position to choose an app to fire up, you’ll see these new ads peeking up from the bottom of your screen.



A TV displaying an ad for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Source: 9to5Google

As 9to5 reports, the section is currently serving ads for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a game released earlier this week on Xbox and PC. There’s a banner featuring a link labeled Watch Gameplay! and a QR code that’ll take you to publisher Bethesda’s website, where you’ll see links to purchase the game. Under the banner are chips that link to a handful of YouTube videos highlighting different aspects of the game. Altogether, the strip of sponsored content fills the majority of the UI.

The new ads aren’t being served to everyone; I’m not currently seeing them on my own Google TV Streamer. Ads for the game are apparently also appearing in the For you section.

The Google TV Streamer under a TV.

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How many more places can Google TV sell ad space?

The Google TV Streamer's home screen showing an ad for a show called Doctor Odyssey.

For what it’s worth, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a pretty impressive game, racking up an aggregate score of 87 out of 100 based on 102 critic reviews on OpenCritic. You can play the game on Google TV through Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming app, if you’ve got the bandwidth for it, so these new ads make some sense on Google TV. Still, I’m not happy to see ad density on Google TV increase yet again. If you’re as annoyed as I am, there’s always apps only mode — though that comes with its own set of compromises.