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Amazon's Giant Ads Have Ruined the Echo Show (theverge.com) 48

Posted by msmash from the customer-obsession dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Last week, Amazon launched a major update of its line of Alexa-enabled Echo smart speakers and displays. The redesign -- led by former Microsoft design chief Ralf Groene, whom Amazon Devices & Services head Panos Panay coaxed out of retirement -- included two new Echo Show smart displays. According to Panay, these new models are the first step on a road to building "products that customers love."

But there's one big barrier to customers loving their Echo Shows: ads. In recent months, full-screen display ads with the tag "sponsored" have been appearing on current Echo Shows, and users are not happy. They just started popping up on my device this week, and they are very intrusive, appearing between photos when the Show is set to Photo Frame mode or between content if it's set to show different categories (such as music, recipes, news). As I type, the last-gen Echo Show 8 on my desk showed an ad for an herbal supplement between a snapshot of my daughter dancing at her aunt's wedding and a baby picture of my son. The ad reappeared two photos later, and then again. And again.
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Amazon's Giant Ads Have Ruined the Echo Show

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  • Wow! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If you were shocked by ads appearing on these devices then you probably rode the short bus.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If it answers you second, it's not your device. Septembers get confused and think they control it.

      If it phones home at boot, it's not your device. Septembers can't tell since it's not something in their immediate field of vision.

  • Oh, It's these Assholes Again (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crunchy_one ( 1047426 ) on Friday October 10, 2025 @10:08AM (#65716490)
    Amazon. By now anyone purchasing an Amazon device should know that they're about to get shit on all over again in the form of ads, ads, and more ads.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dysmal ( 3361085 )

      Which devices are worse for shitting on "consumers" with ads: Google or Amazon?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by sodul ( 833177 )

      I remember, many years ago, I interviewed for a position on the Alexa team. At the time Amazon had no ads on any of their platforms. The interviews were very very focused on how to monetize through ads, which to me was very awkward as I feel rather negatively about forced advertising and consumer tracking. Needless to say I did not join them. I had some conversations wit Alexa insiders, outside the interviews, and the consensus was that the tech stack was actually of low overall quality. Apparently when a p

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HiThere ( 15173 )

        Well, ads were why I stopped watching TV. Static side panel ads aren't too bad, but anything more than that an ... well, I *may* bother to block it, but I'm more likely to just leave.

      • Same. I am still subscribed to Prime, for the delivery perks, the free Twitch sub, and the content I guess. But I'll get that content on the High Seas from now on.

    • Anyone convinced that jumping on over-hyped technologies when they are the front-page news of news sites is a bad practice.

      How may IoT devices are really used on a wide scale beyond monetizing your personal data devices and services?

  • I obviously don't expect better from these sorts of people; but I'm honestly puzzled as to why they would turn the screws so quickly and blatantly despite having gone to all the trouble of a reshuffle and a new lineup and some spiel about being likeable rather than Alexa just being something that you sort of poke at because Prime members were given a free surveillance puck with some offer one time.

    Is Panay one of those abhuman lunatics who genuinely thinks that the only objection to relentless advertisin

    • Re:Scorpion or hubris? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by johnnys ( 592333 ) on Friday October 10, 2025 @10:22AM (#65716512)

      Here we have "acceleration of enshittification". It's now a race to see who can ruin their product most quickly to screw over their customers for money.

      The only way to win is not to play.

      • The only way to win is not to play.

        I do think there is some tacit merit in the intolerably pretentious open source purist position. People find it annoying, but "If I don't control the exact source code running on my device, I don't really own it" does seem to be the resounding truth of 2025. And everything running in the cloud or a few specific social media websites just compounds the cost.

        Every shitty business idea we could all see coming decades ago has come to pass.

      • Here we have "acceleration of enshittification".

        Interestingly, that makes extreme sense. Capitalism in general, and Shareholder Capitalism more intensely, requires exponential growth. A company that makes (I'll throw random number for simplicity) $1 billion/quarter to grow 3%, means increasing revenue by $30 million in that period, whereas a company that makes $1 trillion/quarter needs to increase revenue by $30 billion to meet the same 3% growth. Needing to make $30 million allows for a much larger window of "good enough quality" before enshitification

    • Because number must go up very fast in this AI bubble market.

  • The jackoff advertisers, the jackoff CEOs who decide to pile on more ads, the people who try to gaslight those who notice and object, the people who act like their being apathetic means those who notice need to be apathetic as well / are wrong for not being apathetic, THEY ALL need to fuck all the way off a god damned cliff.
  • This sucks, but....it's well known that Amazon devices are sold at a loss, especially Alexa. You kind of knew some shenanigans would ensue. If you're not the customer, you're the the product...if you buy something that costs a fortune in ongoing maintenance and is sold at a loss...well...you have to be smart enough to know your data is worth a few hundred a year when Amazon already has your most valuable data (purchasing history, tastes in media, medical needs, and family tree) already. At best, you can

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by piojo ( 995934 )

      From a legal and moral perspective, it doesn't matter that they sold it at a loss. People paid for it, then Amazon remotely sabotaged it.

      At least that's how it will look to people that don't realize it depends on remote services. I still tend to think this way. Intentional remote degradation of UX should not be legal without the option to opt out. Obviously this is an economic/legal can of worms, though.

    • Apple might be held back by not wanting to sell hardware at a loss. So, even if it is premium, you'd see a puck speaker for $150 vs the ones from Amazon and Google that they give away on Black Friday for $20.

      • The Google Home Mini was a decent speaker when it was $20 on sale. I think Google was going for marketshare with Assistant rather than trying to monetize the device directly, so it was kind of a win for me. The assistant is still useless (actually more useless than it was when I bought the speakers), but I can't buy the Chromecast Audio devices I really want anymore and the (non-Google) WiiM Pro is a lot more expensive for the same functionality. All I need is something that supports speaker groups with

    • > Making Alexa is not THAAAAT hard

      Last year, the WSJ reported that Amazon lost $25 billion on Alexa from 2017-2021, partially from selling devices below cost but mostly because of development costs. It seems like it's harder than you think.

      • > Making Alexa is not THAAAAT hard

        Last year, the WSJ reported that Amazon lost $25 billion on Alexa from 2017-2021, partially from selling devices below cost but mostly because of development costs. It seems like it's harder than you think.

        That's my entire point there. It's not hard to make a smart device, but it's VERY hard to make a useful smart device at a price customers will pay and turn a profit....hence why there's maybe 3 players in the market? I know of Alexa & Google Home and assume someone else has one...maybe Samsung or a Chinese market brand. But it's like eReaders...there's Amazon...then there's everyone else...in terms of sales and broad recognition. If the maintenance and R&D costs were reasonable, they'd have a lo

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by unrtst ( 777550 )

      2. If you don't want a monthly fee, how much would it cost for a device to cover the cost of the hardware + maintaining Alexa servers and R&D if there were no ads?

      Look at Home Assistant. A Raspberry Pi seems sufficient, and then most of it doesn't need to go out to a server farm. The Echo Show's likely have more than enough power to do it. Covering their R&D costs... that's their problem. They're dumping a TON into getting AI/LLM stuff on them, and that's going under their R&D budget. If you just mean the sunk costs getting the hardware out the door, that should be well paid for by now.

      I keep waiting and hoping someone will get something open running on these

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by allo ( 1728082 )

      Amazon sells devices to consume Amazon content. No need to show ads to finance them. Do you think they sell the books on your kindle at self cost?

    • Are they sold below cost? Says who? Whose figures? What are the costs per unit? $1 for the hardware, $2 for the software, $1000 for hookers and blow, $10,000 for scalp polish?
      OMG they have no choice but to screw everyone according to figures made up by professional liars whose pay also comes out of the costs! Pretty convincing!

  • Billboard (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bmomjian ( 195858 ) on Friday October 10, 2025 @11:03AM (#65716592) Homepage

    It is basically like having an electronic billboard in your house. If someone years ago suggested this would happen, they would be thought of as crazy.

  • I wonder how many advertisers realize how much market they lose by associating their product with negative experiences. Even sobconciously.

  • Why do you buy this stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Friday October 10, 2025 @11:49AM (#65716714)

    Why do you buy this stuff?

    Seriously. Why?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nwaack ( 3482871 )

      A few years back my wife wanted to turn our house into spyware by putting this throughout the house. I strongly objected, so later that year, "Santa" brought our family of bunch of these devices.

      It only takes one family member...

      • It's fairly easy to arrange things such that the devices never seem to work properly.

        For example.....oh.....I dunno.....they can't get on the network or reach their servers because someone secretly configured the firewall to prevent that shit.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by nwaack ( 3482871 )
          You seem to be ignoring the social implications of said secret configuration. Do you have a wife? ;)

          • Yes. For 20 years now.

            She generally doesn't care much about technology. I'd be completely shocked if she wanted any of those Amazon spy devices.

  • Anyone who bought an internet of shit device with a video screen should have seen this coming. Amazon put ads in their internet of shit TVs. Why wouldn’t you expect ads everywhere else?

  • Why do you think they are talking about Joe Average? Their customers are those paying for the ads to be shown.

  • get up with fleas. I have ZERO sympathy for idiots who paid to have their privacy raped, yet who now whinge about their attention being raped by ads. Here's an idea - stop paying for hardware you don't really own, and over which you have essentially no control beyond pulling its plug.

    You're the author of your own misfortune, and the remedy is simple: unplug this shit and cancel your subscription. Or, you can wait for that waaaambulance that isn't ever coming.

  • Every time this sort of thing happens, the headline should be "Amazon vandalises the property of their customers, police and public authorities will do nothing".

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