Vizio’s popular SmartCast TVs are getting a redesigned home screen that will no doubt give the company more room to maneuver with strategically-placed adds. In addition, users get some nice customization options to play with.
The SmartCast home screen is now labeled as “Vizio Home Screen” and according to the brand, it will provide a more intuitive and personalized experience for users and make it easier to find suitable content. There’s a new sidebar menu for simpler navigation too, it said.
Of course, when they say personalized experiences they also mean targeted ads, and these can clearly be seen in the photos Vizio has provided. They include large ads for new movies and TV shows in the carousel at the top, plus a “Trending Now” bar that shows more advertisements for Vizio’s partner’s content. The user’s installed apps are now found in the third row.
According to Vizio’s VP of Product Marketing, Kaitlyn Collins, the new Vizio Home Screen is the “next step in our evolution to bring our consumers the best entertainment experience”. The company’s goal, she states, is to ensure consumers can experience its latest innovations as soon as they’re made available, even on older Vizio TVs. “The rollout and availability of the new Vizio Home Screen is another manifestation of the idea that, even after consumers purchase a TV from us, we’ll continue to offer value, support, and innovation to their viewing experience,” Collins said.
Vizio also pointed to the user customization options. According to the company, it’s possible to customize the App Row to show your favourite apps in the order you wish. You’ll also be able to bookmark specific movies and shows and add them to “My Watchlist”, in line with other TV platforms.
Despite the user customization capabilities, it’s also clear that the redesigned home screen is meant to bring ads to the fore and help Vizio squeeze more revenue from an ad business that was introduced in 2021. By no means are the ads necessarily a bad thing, as they simply suggest partner content that users may well want to watch, since the suggestions are based on their viewing history, after all.
In any case, the likes of Samsung’s Tizen, LG’s webOS, Google TV and Roku TV also provide personalized ads in the form of recommended content on their Smart TVs, so it’s not like Vizio is doing anything different. It has become a standard way for TV operators to extract more revenue from their users.
Vizio’s SmartCast platform has appeared on all of its TV models since 2017, but it’s not clear if those earliest generation models will also receive the update.
