There 100% are ads for third party apps in the default start menu.
I've seen ads for Bejeweled, Farmville, and Twitter, before I disabled them all.
I've seen ads for Bejeweled, Farmville, and Twitter, before I disabled them all.
An ad would be a banner that shows up when you open the Start menu with "meet singles near you" or "try ubereats" or "buy Chevrolet cars" or some other bullshit of that sorts.
A third-party paying to have a small poster ('Tile') that shows + links to their product is the very definition of an ad.
They're ads. Just like product placement in videos. When the actor is drinking Coca-Cola(tm) with the label pointed perfectly to the camera, that's an ad.
The fact that it doesn't "feel" like an ad to you, is just the industry adapting to audiences general dislike of "obvious" ads.