Samsung’s smart refrigerators are starting to show ads in the United States. This was announced by the company as part of a software update that it has carried out in the Family Hub range, refrigeration products aimed at families, and which includes, among other things, an optimized user experience or a better recognition system for the interior of the refrigerators.
Thus, some of the brand’s connected refrigerators have a new widget that displays advertisements on the large screens integrated into the doors of the appliance. This widget has four rotating views that show daily news, calendar events, the weather forecast and selected advertising.
This widget appears at the bottom of the refrigerator screen and rotates every 10 seconds between the four views. Being a touch screen, users can swipe to navigate between items.
At the moment, advertising is reaching those refrigerators with the largest screens, which it has. prices over $2,000.
As the technology company explains, the ads are displayed contextualized and are not targeted at the individual level. Samsung also ensures that the devices do not collect personal information or track activity. Additionally, users can disable display ads in their refrigerator settings. Specific ads can also be discarded, meaning they will not appear again during the course of the campaign.
According to TI Verge, Initially, only ads for Samsung products and services would be shown, such as the brand’s refrigerator water filter. However, the company plans to open the channel to external advertisers.
“This pilot project explores in depth how a connected appliance can offer really useful contextual information”Shane Higby, Head of Home Appliance Business at Samsung Electronics America, commented to the aforementioned media.The refrigerator is already a center of daily activities, and we are testing a responsible, user-controlled way to make that space more useful“.
In this sense, Samsung’s objective would be to offer selected and relevant advertisements to elevate the consumer experience. Thus, the door would be opened to commercial communications from brands linked to food, home care or pet care, or even related to other electronic products.
The brand points out that since it is a pilot program, the sample of ads is intended to be a responsible test and they are committed to actively listening to users to find out if the initiative is really useful.
