Advertising is the deal with the devil we make for inexpensive hardware and services, but we can still fight back.
You can’t swing a dead cat in the electronics space without hitting a smart TV — that’s just the way it is in 2022. Whether it’s a Roku TV, a set from LG, Samsung, Vizio, or another TV running some other operating system, there’s a high chance that it’s going to connect to the internet. There’s also an even better chance that the platform on which the TV runs deals in advertising.
Ads on ads on ads Forget for the moment that an NFL broadcast is, itself, full of advertisements in the stadium, on the field, on the screen, and from the broadcasters’ mouths. Still, we watch. And ignore for the moment the fact that Roku basically is now an advertising company that also sells hardware and licenses out its operating system to other manufacturers. Still, we buy the $25 sticks en masse and the inexpensive televisions in droves.
That device could be software baked into your router, or it could be a separate device like the Pi-Hole or AdGuard service on a Raspberry Pi. Your experience will differ from someone else’s. In my home, I usually average around 13% of all server queries being blocked. Maybe that’s high, maybe it’s low. It all depends on how many devices you have going through the ad-blocker and what those devices are.