People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads

Advertising is a small part of the experience, and it helps customers discover new content and products they may be interested in. If customers don’t like a suggestion, they can swipe to skip to the next screen card or directly provide feedback by tapping the Information icon or pressing the screen.

Amazon declined to comment on whether it has increased Echo Show ad loads.

Alexa resorts to ads

Amazon’s Devices business famously doesn’t make money, so it’s not too surprising to see the company’s smart displays resort to ads, something Amazon is making money on.

Expanding on its ads program for Alexa devices, which launched in 2023, Amazon ramped up efforts to sell customers’ Echo Show screen space to advertisers in July when it launched a program for showing home screen ads on devices using Alexa+. Amazon recently said it may also put ads into Alexa+ conversations.

According to Amazon, Echo Show home screen ads change based on how close someone is to the gadget:

When the customer is more than four feet away from their device, ads will display full-screen in rotation with other content such as weather, recipes, sports, and news. When the customer is close to their device (within four feet), ads will display in rotation in the first card on the home screen grid.

Panos Panay, head of Amazon’s Devices & Services business, acknowledged “the randomness” of some Alexa ads to The Verge’s Tuhoy. When asked how the company is working to improve the ad experience on Alexa devices, an Amazon spokesperson told Ars that it will “continue to evolve our advertising experiences based on customer feedback.”

After Amazon’s devices launch last month, we noted that Alexa’s survival hinges on users’ tolerance for pricier Amazon devices. It seems people’s tolerance for ads will also play a role.