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ZDNET's key takeaways
Smart TVs track viewing habits with ACR tech.
Collected data fuels billions in targeted ads.
Turning off ACR protects privacy but takes effort.
Did you know that whenever you turn on your smart TV, you invite an unseen guest to watch it with you?
These days, most mainstream TVs use automatic content recognition (ACR), a type of ad-tracking technology that collects data on everything you watch and sends it to a central database. Manufacturers then use this information to understand your viewing habits and deliver highly targeted ads.
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What's the incentive behind this invasive technology? According to market research firm eMarketer, in 2022, advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads, and those numbers are only going up.
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