Mike Shehan, an investor, industry veteran, and former SpotX CEO, has returned from the ad tech sidelines to join the executive team at Telly, a business that gives away free TVs in exchange for user data.
Ad tech experts are certainly familiar with Shehan’s background. He co-founded the video SSP SpotX in 2007, which was fully acquired by the European entertainment network RTL Group in 2017. Shehan was SpotX’s CEO until 2021, when Magnite acquired it from RTL for $1.2 billion. Shehan has since served as an advisor and investor for a number of technology startups, including Telly.
On Tuesday, Telly announced that Shehan will become the company’s first CRO.
READ MORE: Roblox Partners With Ad Tech Provider PubMatic To Enhance Video Ad Revenue
“I [was] doing everything possible not to be a [ad tech] operator again,” Shehan explained to AdExchanger. However, the monetization potential of Telly’s primary business model is what eventually brought him back to the ad tech field, he said.
Telly was launched in 2021 by Ilya Pozin, the co-founder of Paramount-owned Pluto TV. Telly launched in 2023 with a goal of giving out 500,000 smart TVs for free within a year to people who sign up on their website and agree to have their data used for targeted advertising.
Telly collects data on household income, the number of individuals living in the household, and the types of vehicles they possess, to mention a few. If consumers wish to opt out of future data sharing, they must return the TV.
According to Shehan, Telly’s main value proposition is that its product is free for consumers. “Nothing scales faster than free,” he informed me. Consumers have no excuse not to try it, unless they don’t want to give their data. When given the option, consumers are more likely to opt out of personal data collecting. However, in this situation, Shehan contends that consumers will agree to share data with Telly since they will receive a sleek new TV for free, potentially saving hundreds of dollars.
READ MORE: AMC Counts On Content And Ad Tech To Reverse Ad Slide (Upfront 2024)
Shehan claims that Telly’s free TVs are in high demand, and not simply among people who are unable or unwilling to spend hundreds of dollars on a new television. “There are millions upon millions of customers that’ll take [us] up on that opportunity,” he told me. The business reports that nearly half a million households are currently on a waiting list.
However, for the time being, such figures are only an ambition. Telly declined to say how many people own Telly devices, as well as why it did not delivery 500,000 units as expected last year. However, a representative stated that thousands of households in 48 states currently own Telly TVs.
National marketers, including automobile and insurance brands like Kia and State Farm, buy ads on Telly TV screens for the same reason they buy home screen inventory on other smart TVs: it reaches customers who would otherwise only watch ad-free content. Telly also sells advertisements on the smaller, second screen connected to its TV gadgets, allowing marketers to promote without interrupting what a customer is watching while still including clickable adverts.
Telly, for example, can recognize when an advertisement appears on the main TV screen using automatic content recognition. It then displays a clickable ad on the side screen with a prompt, such as ordering pizza or booking a test drive. Advertisers who run these types of advertising on Telly include Mazda and State Farm.
The true monetization trick is, of course, the data. Telly builds a panel using its viewership data, which it claims will help bridge holes in the current TV ad measurement landscape (which we all know is a mess). Telly claims it isn’t concerned about privacy issues because customers agree to share their data before receiving their TVs.
Radiant TV, offering to elevate your entertainment game! Movies, TV series, exclusive interviews, music, and more—download now on various devices, including iPhones, Androids, smart TVs, Apple TV, Fire Stick, and more.
