LG has started showing screensaver ads on all its smart TVs, even expensive OLED models, according to an LG press release and a FlatpanelsHD report. The placements appear before the regular screensaver activates.
On top of an ad for LG’s own streaming channel, one FlatpanelsHD reviewer spotted third-party ads. The screensaver ads will appear “across the home screen, LG Channels and Content Store on LG smart TVs,” according to LG. These are now turned on by default but can be disabled in the settings.
LG didn’t promote the new “feature” to the public, but it did herald it on its LG Ad Solutions site. The company said it “found that screensaver ads drove on average 2.5 times higher lift in brand awareness… challenging the assumption that that a viewer’s attention is limited once the television screen is idle.”
It may be great for advertisers, but buyers paying up to $4,500 for a high-end TV may not be so keen. Many TV owners never bother to turn off the motion smoothing “soap opera effect” on their TVs, so LG may believe they won’t dive into the menus to turn off the ads, either.
LG is already poking into the viewing habits of its buyers by vacuuming up content-recognition tracking data gathered from its TVs and handing it to the ratings company Nielsen. That type of revenue potential in a business with tight margins prompted it to launch the LG Ad Solutions division earlier this month, with aim of finding new ways to show ads and track smart TV users. Other companies are guilty of presenting ads in their smart TV ecosystems as well, including Samsung, Roku, TCL and others.
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