Apple TV advertises its own content when you are on the homepage (even as a non-Apple TV+ subscriber so it's a little more aggressive than like sitting on the Netflix homepage as a subscriber) but as far as I can tell nothing more than that.

Been a user for the last 7-8 years and I love the UX.

If you count the top-app-row preview as an ad, maybe there are ads. If you move the tv+ app off the top row you don’t see anything by Apple.

There are no app suggestions or notifications on Apple TV (or at least I turned them off about 8 years ago).

I have been happily streaming media off my computer with Apple TV and have never had a single issue with it.

Oh that's interesting, didn't even think about moving it.

Even then though, I'm an on-again/off-again Plus subscriber so I don't even mind it because it often times suggests shows that I might want to subscribe for.

I'm not sure how many Apple TV devices they sell, but I've always viewed it as super underrated, just a clean piece of hardware with great "It Always Works" functionality.

I have Spotify at the top left of the clickable icons and the top row of the screen shows Spotify’s suggestions.

A year or two back they changed the home button to actually go to their TV app, fortunately this can be reverted in the options.

Otherwise, there aren’t really any ads except that if you linger over their app icon, it has a kind of “now showing” effect (no sound though). Seems a little more privileged compared to other apps in how much of the Home Screen it can use, but it’s really not obtrusive.

I really like my Apple TV.

I've seen a few other apps display content in the same way. Seems like it's just an 'underused' feature, rather than a private API.

You can get around this by being selective with the apps on the home row. I have the Home Sharing, Settings, Search, Photos, and Podcasts apps on the home row. No ads.

Even then I don't quite consider it quite ad-free. Content I've purchased in iTunes Movies or iTunes TV Shows will always show the store on launch or will switch to the store if you pause content for some amount of time.

So it's not adfree at all? That's all I see on my tv with Android TV as well.

Sony does this too

Apps pinned to the top row of the home screen can show their own custom content in the top portion of the screen when highlighted. By default, the Apple TV app is in that row and shows you slides for TV+ content. That is as close to built-in advertising as it gets.