Your TV Becomes a Storefront
Picture this: your TV goes idle, and instead of a static image, it springs to life with a scene featuring you, your family, or even your dog, decked out in new outfits or lounging on a sleek couch. With a quick scan of a QR code, you can buy that jacket or furniture right from your living room. DirecTV's partnership with Glance, announced on October 14, 2025, makes this a reality for Gemini streaming device users starting in early 2026. The technology uses Google's Gemini and Imagen AI to create personalized, shoppable screensavers that activate after ten minutes of inactivity.
This isn't just about sprucing up your idle screen. The system taps into a massive product catalog, reportedly covering one trillion SKUs, letting you shop for items that match the AI-generated scenes. Want to see your kid in a superhero costume or your living room with a new coffee table? The TV remote lets you tweak colors and styles, while your smartphone handles the purchase. It's a seamless blend of entertainment and commerce, turning passive viewing into an interactive experience.
Learning From the Smartphone Playbook
Glance isn't new to this game. In June 2025, they rolled out a similar setup on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, reaching over fifty million users across S22 to S25 models. Users uploaded selfies to see themselves in AI-styled outfits on lock screens, with QR codes linking to real products. The opt-in approach worked, people engaged, shared photos, and made purchases. DirecTV's move builds on this, scaling the concept to the bigger screen in your home, where attention spans and budgets might stretch further.
Compare that to Amazon's Fire TV, which introduced ads into screensavers in 2024. Users grumbled about the intrusion, feeling their TVs were becoming billboards. Glance's approach, with its focus on personalization, aims to feel less like an ad and more like a tailored suggestion. The lesson? Engagement hinges on choice. Samsung's opt-in model gave users control, while Amazon's default ads sparked backlash. DirecTV's challenge will be keeping the experience voluntary and easy to disable, avoiding the bloatware stigma that haunted Glance on Motorola's budget phones.
When Your TV Knows You Too Well
The convenience comes with a catch. To make this work, you're uploading personal photos to Glance's system, which raises questions about data security. InMobi, Glance's parent company, settled with the FTC in 2016 for $950,000 after tracking user locations without consent, including kids' data, violating privacy laws. That history makes some wary about handing over family photos. How long are these images stored? Who else might access them? The answers aren't clear yet, and with multiple players, DirecTV, Glance, Google, and retail partners, data sharing gets murky.
Privacy advocates point out that smart TVs already track viewing habits, and adding personal images to the mix feels like a step too far. The system's reliance on internet connectivity also means it won't work smoothly in homes with spotty broadband. Plus, there's the risk of the uncanny valley, those AI-generated images of you might look just off enough to feel creepy instead of cool. Balancing personalization with trust will be critical for DirecTV to avoid alienating users.
Why This Matters for Your Living Room
Connected TV advertising is booming, hitting $33.35 billion in 2025, with shoppable ads becoming a priority for 40 percent of marketers. DirecTV's move taps into this trend, turning idle screen time into a revenue stream as cord-cutting pressures mount. For users, it's a chance to discover products without leaving the couch, from sports gear tied to live scores to travel deals linked to your dream vacation. But it also means your TV, once a sanctuary for binge-watching, is now a marketplace.
The broader shift is clear: TVs are no longer just for shows. With 43.8 percent of U.S. viewing time now on streaming platforms, companies like DirecTV see untapped potential in every idle moment. Yet, there's a trade-off. If users feel bombarded or spied on, they might push back, as seen with LG's 2013 data collection scandal or Samsung's 2015 voice surveillance fears. DirecTV's success depends on making this feel like a perk, not a ploy. Offering clear opt-out options and transparent data policies could set it apart from competitors.