Some Consumers Opt To Give Up Privacy For A Free Big Screen Tv

It seems ironic that as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is cracking down on companies collecting user data to protect consumer privacy, a new company called Telly is successfully launching a service which gives Americans a free big screen TV in exchange for them giving up privacy.

The FTC has strict rules on ensuring transparency and those signing up to get a free Big Scree TV clearly know what they are getting into. Those 250K people who request the complimentary 4K 55-inch television don’t mind that it comes with an attached screen below the TV which displays targeted advertising, news, weather, sports scores and other information. Users can also set the lower screen to be on all of the time, even when the TV is turned off. The set comes with a Harmon Kardon soundbar and a Chromecast with Google TV Adaptor.

To get the free TV, recipients had to answer questions about themselves and their income, agree to share viewing and other data for advertising purposes, who is their cellphone provider, home and vehicle ownership, household income, number of children and pets, ethnicity, viewing habits, purchasing behaviors, and agree not to modify the TV or use ad-blocking software. Most of the current Telly users earn more than $50K per year, topped the national average for educational attainment, and two-thirds were either millennials or Gen Z.

This detailed questionnaire will clearly allow the company to target ads to the right demographic. However, on the flipside, getting a lot of useful information back from this group of users may have limited use because the pool of users is clearly someone who is willing to give up privacy for a free TV. The TV has a sensor that detects whether people are present and how many.

Telly has signed a measurement deal with Nielsen. This may help it attract additional advertisers beyond its first advertiser, Kia. It also has signed advertising partnerships with Magnite and Microsoft
MSFT
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Telly actually has stopped marketing the TV sets because demand was so high—they plan to ship 500K by the end of the year. But after an article appeared about the company in Friday’s issue of The Wall Street Journal they may have their list of 500K requests filled soon. The company plans to ship millions more of the sets next year.

Going forward, the company expects to add a number of features like integrating with Zoom so users can watch TV shows with others and connecting to Ring doorbell cameras. In the company’s favor is that an initial investor is Lightshed Ventures, which has a very good reputation. Rich Greeenfield, a general partner, told the Journal, “It’s such a crazy idea, but it just feels like right now we’re at a place where we are in the TV ecosystem and advertising ecosystem where this is not so crazy.”

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