Samsung smart TVs to start putting ads on top of things people are watching

The company will be able to roll out the ads even to old sets, since they can be updated over the internet

A display of S' UHD 4K TV from Samsung are seen at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 8, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada (Getty Images)

Samsung is quietly adding ads onto its smart TVs to try and boost revenues – even after people have bought the sets.

The company has already added new “tile ads” to the menus in its premium internet-connected televisions. It is planning to roll out that feature across Europe.

The move will even affect existing smart TVs since they can be updated with a software update, over the internet.

The ads sit on the TVs’ home screen, alongside the normal apps like YouTube or Netflix, and link out to external content. As such they are likely to prove unpopular among users, and might also draw the attention of regulators and networks.

It comes after Samsung last year got drawn into controversy over a policy that appeared to allow its TVs to listen in on everything people said in their living rooms. It said after that storm that the policy had been clumsily written.

Increasing the number of ads will help Samsung increase its revenues even after people have bought their TVs. Though Samsung already has some deals in place, like taking part of the revenues from people watching Netflix on their TVs, it has struggled to generate revenues on top of the money it gets from selling hardware.

The move is being made to try and counteract slowing growth in the TV industry, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. Though Samsung is dominant in that market, selling 20 per cent of units according to analysts, it is declining because it is largely saturated.

TVs also provide small profits because the markup on them is so low, according to analysts. Generating extra revenue from other services could help the company make back some of that money that has been lost because of low-cost Chinese televisions.

Samsung did not initially respond to a request for comment.