DirecTV is adding Glance’s AI screensavers so viewers can appear in scenes and shop similar items, with rollout targeting Gemini streaming boxes next year.
📌 Key Takeaways
- Triggers after ~10 minutes idle on DirecTV Gemini devices.
- Join via QR code, upload a photo, appear in images or a 30s clip.
- Use the remote to restyle colours or outfits by voice.
- Shopping shows look-alike items; checkout is on your phone.
- DirecTV–Glance partnership confirmed; wider TV integration under review.
How Glance’s AI Screensaver Works On DirecTV
Leave your DirecTV device idle, and a Glance carousel replaces stock wallpapers after roughly ten minutes, with an on-screen QR code to the Glance app. Upload a photo to place yourself (or family, pets) into AI-generated images or a short 30-second video.
You can tweak the look using voice on the remote, for example, change clothing colour or silhouette. If you see something you like, Glance uses reverse image matching to find similar items rather than pushing a specific brand, and you finish the purchase on your phone.
“We are making television a lean-in experience versus lean back.” — Rajat Wanchoo, Group VP, Commercial Partnerships, Glance.
Privacy, Shopping Flow And Brand Placement
Glance frames this as an “immersive” content layer for streaming, starting with screensavers and potentially moving into other parts of the TV interface.
The shopping flow is mobile-first, so payment data stays off the TV session, and Glance says it matches similar products rather than inserting paid placements into scenes.
“We are starting with the screensaver, but tomorrow, we can integrate it into the launcher of the TV.” — Mansi Jain, COO, Glance.
Idle-to-AI carousel, QR onboarding, voice restyling, mobile checkout, partnership confirmed, launcher integration under consideration.
Availability: Gemini Devices And Timing
DirecTV and Glance say the experience targets DirecTV Gemini streaming hardware with consumer availability beginning next year. Expect an on-screen QR prompt the first time your device switches to the new screensaver after an idle period.
DirecTV’s current idle mode uses standard Google wallpapers; the Glance experience replaces that state with personalised, generative scenes on supported boxes.
Why It Matters For Connected-TV Commerce
This is a live test of personalised, AI-generated visuals on the biggest screen in the house with in-flow shopping. If consent, relevance, and frequency are tuned well, it could shape how streamers bring AI-driven discovery and commerce into living-room interfaces.
For platforms, the draw is attention during idle time. For viewers, the risk is overreach. Clear controls, easy opt-outs, and transparent data use will decide whether this becomes useful or a novelty.
Conclusion
Glance’s AI screensaver turns a passive moment into a personalised surface that can entertain, style, and sell, all from the TV’s idle state. The blend of QR onboarding, voice tweaks, and mobile checkout keeps the flow simple.
The proof will be adoption and comfort: do people like seeing themselves on screen, and do they shop without feeling pushed? If those answers land well, expect AI-personalised interfaces to spread beyond screensavers into launchers and live tiles.
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14th October 2025
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