Advertising on Android TV and Google TV has always been very mild in comparison to other smart TV platforms, as they only presented advertisements for TV shows and movies. Yet, Android TV and Google TV advertising are gradually beginning to display tangible objects, such as a recent ad for an Audi automobile.
Google first introduced adverts for Android TV in 2020, only months before the launch of Google TV, which was more focused on suggestions and overall content. Google has progressively experimented with how these bits of sponsored advertising can appear over the years, but for a long time, it was limited to the content you could stream on your device.
Things began to change in 2021 when Google and Marvel began promoting Shang-Chi on Android TV before the film had ever been released in theatres. We saw the first commercials for real things on Google TV earlier this year, with an ad in India for a retail store selling Apple devices.
Google is now pushing things to the next level. One Reddit user (probably from Germany) discovered an advertisement for an Audi electric automobile. The ad is labeled “advertisement,” with the phrase “The future is already waiting.” The advertisement was viewed on an Nvidia Shield TV, which continues to use the Android TV “Explore” interface rather than Google TV.
This growing tendency of showing adverts for real things is unfortunate, but it appears that Google is still simply testing the waters. We haven’t seen many of these advertisements, especially in the United States. Nonetheless, it appears like Google will continue to press forward with these expansions, especially as the platform increases.