Difficulty in closing TV startup advertisements: Enterprises with a focus on "money" are unlikely to have a bright future

Xiao Ying (Southwest University of Finance and Economics)Recently, CCTV reporters found through investigation that users of multiple TV brands are unable to turn off startup advertisements on their own. Some need to call and provide information such as device serial numbers and activation codes; Some require the master to come and close the door; Others need to contact online customer service and can only be closed within 2-3 working days

Xiao Ying (Southwest University of Finance and Economics)

Recently, CCTV reporters found through investigation that users of multiple TV brands are unable to turn off startup advertisements on their own. Some need to call and provide information such as device serial numbers and activation codes; Some require the master to come and close the door; Others need to contact online customer service and can only be closed within 2-3 working days. (CCTV News on September 14th)

With the rapid development of the internet television industry, the popularity of intelligent television is constantly increasing. In order to better meet the diverse needs of users, the iteration speed of smart TV updates is also constantly accelerating. However, even if the hardware system is upgraded all the way, it is difficult to change the TV ecosystem situation where user reputation and consumer experience have been declining. Why do more and more users complain about the decline of the sense of experience? This requires profound reflection from television manufacturers.

In the traditional television era, you only need to "turn on, select a channel, and watch" three steps to watch TV. Nowadays, when you turn on the TV, the first thing that catches your eye is no longer the program, but the ads that can't be turned off for more than ten or even tens of seconds. I managed to get through the startup advertisement, followed by a dazzling layout, complex functions, and one after another "doll" style member consumption trap. All of these are repeatedly reminding consumers that television is no longer just a simple media platform, and the parts that originally had the characteristics of "authenticity" are filled with a color of "interest driven".

The 2021 Research Report on Smart TV on/off Advertising released by the People's Daily Financial Research Institute shows that nearly 90% of consumers have on/off advertising in their smart TVs, and the proliferation of "on/off advertising" has become a strong pain point for consumers to resist. Article 44 of the Advertising Law clearly stipulates: "The use of the internet to publish and send advertisements shall not affect users' normal use of the internet. Advertisements published in the form of pop-up on internet pages shall be prominently marked with a shutdown sign to ensure one click shutdown." Consumers who purchase television and have ownership of the television have the right to choose the content to watch, but are forced to watch on/off advertisements, which is not reasonable. Television manufacturers seek benefits while forcing consumers to pay for them, which clearly violates consumers' right to know and choose.

In fact, in 2019, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission took a special action to address the issue of smart TV startup advertising infringing on consumer rights and issued a notice on the rectification situation. Around July 2020, six companies, Xiaomi, Skyworth, Haier, Hisense, Sharp, and Changhong, all issued rectification instructions for startup advertising. The "Internet Advertising Management Measures", which were officially implemented on May 1, 2023, have also made corresponding regulations on the frequent pop-up advertisements of smart appliances, navigation devices, and other related issues. However, the forced viewing of startup advertisements on smart TVs has not been completely eradicated. The cumbersome shutdown settings make users feel bored and disgusted, further reducing their trust and satisfaction with smart TVs. Why is it so difficult to refuse TV startup advertisements?

The reason for this is due to interests. Traditional television manufacturers mainly make profits by selling hardware, while today's television manufacturers are shifting their focus to more dispersed usage scenarios. In the fierce market competition, startup advertising is one of the important profit sources for some smart TV production enterprises, to the extent that they persist in forcibly implanting it despite clear legal regulations and user viewing experience.

The broadcasting and television industry has a market attribute, and it is understandable for television manufacturers to innovate their business models and pursue profits. However, it must not be based on the premise of infringing on consumer rights and ignoring social public interests. Regarding the issue of TV startup advertising, TV manufacturers should return the right of choice to users. In the era of multiple screens, facing fierce market competition, television manufacturers should consider how to increase user stickiness and attract viewers with better content and service experience, rather than blindly focusing on the "easy to get" advertising benefits. Otherwise, in the long run, the loss of users, the deterioration of the television ecosystem, and the shrinkage of the market will bring irreversible long-term huge losses.

Enterprises that focus solely on "money" cannot go far and have great prospects. Smart TV manufacturers should strengthen self-discipline, accelerate rectification, abandon profit thinking models, pay attention to listening to users' voices, actively optimize the user experience based on user feedback, solve the problem of "watching TV is difficult, watching TV is boring", win the future by winning users, and jointly promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the broadcasting and television industry and the online audiovisual industry.

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