Fire TV owners continue to see Amazon make adjustments to the way it incorporates advertising. In this case, the affected tool is the screensaver, which changes to include advertising and abandons its classic system.
For now, at least, it seems that Amazon has not brought this update to its system to all Fire TVs, but there are people who say they have encountered it. They discovered it on CordCuttersNews, where they even took a photo of the screen that we share with you below so you can see what we are talking about. On paper, it is simple: Amazon has decided that the screensaver is a good place to put advertising.
How do these ads appear?
When you stop using the device, as usual, the screensaver is activated. This function, available on many other devices, shows you an image that you have chosen and that may make you feel relaxed or that you simply like to look at.
But, from now on, at least if your device ends up receiving the update, the screensaver is not the first thing that will load when your screen has been unused for a few seconds. Instead, what appears is a full-screen advertisement that takes center stage. And it is precisely the fact that it appears in full screen that has not convinced the user community. Because if it were seen in small size, it would be annoying, but it would not be so invasive. However, in full screen things change.
Have you lost your screensaver?
No, at least not yet. Amazon has simply pushed it to the back burner. This means that first, it loads the ad. And then, about half a minute or a minute later, it will load whatever image you have set as your screensaver. You may have gone to the bathroom in those first 30-60 seconds and not even come across the ad, but it’s still important to mention, especially given the many ads that are creeping into Fire TV. After all, who knows if there will be more than one ad in the future.
Amazon has previously been criticized for running full-screen ads and has ended up updating the system to give users the opportunity to disable them from appearing. At the time, the ads would load the moment you turned on your Fire TV (as seen in the photo we recovered and also taken by CordCuttersNews). But, as we indicated, you can disable them from the options menu. In the case of ads that appear before the screensaver, it is possible that Amazon will also end up offering the possibility of turning them off or, at least, disabling the full screen.
It’s good to see Amazon continuing to explore different possibilities for inserting ads, because it’s obviously important to increase revenue. But above all, we hope that the company continues to provide customization options and thus avoid criticism from users. In this particular case, as we said, there is not much talk about the incorporation of these ads, so it is possible that they are being tested in an isolated way.
We also have to see if the ad has sound or not. For now, CordCuttersNews says that they have seen ads from several companies and that they believe that they are reaching owners of Fire TV devices and televisions manufactured from 2016 onwards. But, given what we’ve seen, we would dare to say, as we mentioned, that it is some isolated test process that is only reaching a specific number of users. We will also have to see if Amazon gives the green light to this new way of showing advertising or if it ends up adjusting it in some way or even eliminating it. Some users say that it is starting to be a bit suffocating to see that Amazon does not stop trying to put ads everywhere.
