Earlier this month, Hisense smart TV users in Spain reported that they were presented with full-screen ads when accessing the input switching feature. A small number also reported that ads were displayed all the time on the TV's front panel. The ads cannot be skipped or turned off. Only IT-savvy users can block these ads through settings on their home internet routers.
After the issue went viral, Hisense issued an official statement saying that the ad display was just a test to see user feedback. The ads only appeared on a small number of randomly selected TVs last month. So far, only Hisense TVs with the VIDAA operating system in Spain have reported the ads.
The issue of ads on TVs has become a sensitive issue because it is also being done by Samsung and LG. Samsung and LG display ads on the home screen of their Tizen and WebOS TVs, including in Malaysia. We even had incidents of buyers being presented with ads even though premium TVs were purchased for thousands of ringgit.
