Telly, the company that gives free TVs to its customers, has been shipping the devices for nine months. How is it doing? In this interview from last month, Telly’s CSO reveals all.
It has been nine months since Telly began shipping free TVs to customers in the US. It aimed to ship half a million TVs by the end of 2023, but things have been quiet for the company so far in 2024. At the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco on March 27th, 2024, I caught up with Dallas Lawrence, Chief Strategy and Communications Officer for Telly, to find out how the company is doing on meeting its goal and how it has been filling out the functionality and services provided by the product.
In the interview, Mr. Lawrence explains how the built-in second screen works and how advertisers, service providers, and users are exploiting it. He also details the device’s unique features, including how it senses the number of people watching without using the camera. He also reveals a major new feature that will be added to Telly this year.
But before we get to the interview:
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Now, on to the interview.
About Telly (3:30)
We discuss what Telly is, why it is necessary, and what’s included. Mr. Lawrence also explains why Telly fixes the problem of consumers being double-dipped.
Why Telly’s second screen is genius (5:00)
The persistent, always on second screen frees Telly to market to consumers in new ways.
Ad experiences enabled by Telly (6:00)
Telly can deliver regular TV ads, but its unique architecture allows it to deliver marketing messages in ways particularly appealing to advertisers.
How many Telly TVs have shipped to customers (7:40)
Mr. Lawrence explains:
- If consumers are ready to accept the Telly deal
- If they use the TV
- Do advertisers buy ads on Telly?
How people are using the Telly and the second screen (9:20)
Mr. Lawrence explains how Telly can sense how many people are watching without using the camera. He also explains how users are using the TV in unusual ways.
How the camera used by Telly is secure (11:00)
According to Mr. Lawrence, a user’s privacy is always respected. He also explains how willing users are to accept the detailed data they must provide to get the free TV.
How Telly recognizes how many people are watching (12:50)
Telly has unique technology that allows it to recognize how many people are in front of it.
Telly in 2024 (14:30)
Mr. Lawrence reveals an important new feature that will be released in 2024 and categorically states that Telly is free forever.
