▼ Summary
– Telly offers a free 55-inch TV with a secondary screen primarily designed to show ads, but users must complete a detailed survey and cannot disable tracking or cover the screen without paying.
– Despite announcing plans to ship 500,000 TVs in summer 2023 and millions more in 2024, the company had only 35,000 units in homes by late 2025, far below initial sign-up numbers.
– A significant shipping issue involved FedEx delivering 10 percent of Telly TVs broken, though the company reported fewer breakages after switching to a different shipping partner.
– Numerous customer complaints and media reports confirm that many TVs arrived damaged, highlighting ongoing fulfillment and quality control problems.
– Telly has declined to comment on these reports and its current shipment plans, though an investor note indicated it may order 100,000 more units from Foxconn.
The ambitious promise of a completely free television has captured significant public attention, yet the reality of delivering on that promise has proven far more complex. Telly’s business model, which trades a detailed advertising platform for a $1,000 television, faces substantial logistical hurdles that have dramatically slowed its rollout. While initial sign-up numbers were impressive, the actual number of devices in homes remains a fraction of early projections, raising questions about the viability of ad-subsidized hardware at this scale.
When the company launched in May 2023, it announced plans to ship half a million units that summer. By June, a quarter of a million people had reportedly registered for the chance to receive one. The dual-screen design features a primary 55-inch display with a smaller secondary screen below it, which continuously displays advertisements and content like weather or sports scores. The core requirement for ownership is accepting this persistent ad panel; users cannot disable tracking or cover the screen without opting to pay the full retail price. Prospective owners must also complete an extensive personal survey to qualify.
Despite the early surge of interest, recent reports indicate a starkly different picture of actual deployments. Information suggests that by the third quarter of 2025, only about 35,000 Telly televisions were active in customers’ homes, a figure that had grown from 28,000 in the prior quarter. This is a far cry from the “millions more” the company stated it planned to ship in 2024. The same reports indicate Telly plans to order 100,000 new units from its manufacturer, Foxconn, aiming to significantly increase delivery volumes.
A primary obstacle has been severe shipping and fulfillment issues. According to an investor update, Telly claimed that FedEx initially delivered a staggering 10 percent of its shipments broken. After switching to a different logistics partner, believed to be Samsung’s partner RXO, the rate of damaged arrivals reportedly decreased. This aligns with numerous online customer complaints and media reports of televisions arriving damaged straight from Telly’s distribution. The logistical challenges have created a bottleneck, preventing the company from converting its waiting list into an active, revenue-generating user base at the anticipated pace.
The company’s revenue model is entirely dependent on scaling its installed base. Telly only begins earning advertising income after a television is successfully delivered, activated, and begins displaying ads in a user’s home. The current low deployment numbers directly limit its advertising revenue potential. Telly has not publicly commented on these specific shipment figures or the logistical struggles, declining to respond to recent media inquiries. The gap between its ambitious goals and the on-the-ground reality highlights the significant execution risks inherent in a business built on giving away expensive hardware.
(Source: Ars Technica)
