The half-screen ads in Google TV's carousel were previously reserved for new shows and movies from services such as Disney+ but users are now seeing ads for iPhone, cars and more.

One example was posted on reddit, as seen below, while other users say that they are getting ads for Chrysler cars or Tim Hortons coffeehouses. For now, the ads for non-entertainment products appear to be region-specific but show up on multiple Google TV devices including Chromecast and Sony TVs.

Google TV's ads for new shows and movies from partner services such as Disney+ are technically called "recommendations" by Google, whereas the new non-entertainment ads have an 'Ad' label.


 An ad for the Apple iPhone on Google TV. Photo: venky61

Ads on connected TVs
Google is also in the process of transitioning, region by region, older Android TVs to a new more Google TV-like user interface which has the same half-screen ad space, so it is possible that the new type of ads will also make their way to Android TVs from various brands.

More and more TV makers and TV platform owners are leaning into ads to boost profits. Roku has openly stated that it will turn Roku OS into a "next-generation ad platform" while LG and Samsung have redesigned webOS and Tizen, respectively, in their Smart TVs to fullscreen interfaces with ads.

Two options to get rid of the large half-screen ads on Google TV are to switch to a third-party launcher or to change the Google TV homescreen to 'basic TV' mode, also known as 'apps only' mode.

- Source: reddit