LG TVs quietly turn on screensaver ads

Shawn Knight

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,519   +194
Staff member
Facepalm: Remember when televisions were displays that simply served a single purpose – to show video from a connected source? Those glory days are long gone as evident by LG's latest tactic to squeeze every possible advertising dollar out of consumers.

LG has introduced a new initiative aimed at capitalizing on idle screen time. Native Screensaver Ads are full-screen advertisements that appear before the conventional screensaver is activated.

While testing LG's latest high-end G4 OLED set, FlatpanelsHD experienced the new ad format firsthand. The publication was shown an ad for LG's free, ad-supported streaming service – LG Channels – although ads can also feature full-screen content from third-party advertising partners.

Consumers aren't going to be thrilled over another opportunity to be shown ads, which is why LG quietly announced the new feature through its advertising arm.

Dave Rudnick, CTO of LG Ad Solutions, said that in the past, a screensaver ad might have indicated that viewers had left the room, but today's viewing habits are much different. According to Rudnick, 93 percent of viewers are now multitasking – simultaneously engaging in other activities like shopping, browsing social media, or playing games on their phones while watching television.

This, Rudnick said, is a valuable opportunity for brands to be "front and center on the largest screen in the room."

The payoff for advertisers is reportedly there, too. LG cited data from a study conducted by Lucid showing a 2.9 percentage point lift in brand awareness. The study also noted a 16.2 percent lift in brand awareness for women with a household income above $80,000, and a 19.7 percentage point lift in brand consideration for adults over the age of 45.

Fortunately, the feature can be disabled by going into the settings, navigating to additional settings, and toggling the "Screen Saver Promotion" option. No word yet on which other sets aside from the G4 OLED that FlatpanelsHD tested utilize the new format.

Personally, I'd gladly give up smart functionality and Internet connectivity if it meant TVs could go back to just being TVs again.

Permalink to story:

LG TVs quietly turn on screensaver ads

 
scavengerspc said:
I wonder how many people do connect the TV.
I thought people interested in streaming would use an add on device because
built in streaming hardware is just miserably slow.
Click to expand...
Most people I know do so. The idea of plugging a box into a TV is just pure alien. HDMI? Is that a new identity? You tell people they can plug a roku into a TV and their mind goes blank. Tell them a PC can be used to stream media with no ads and they go into full "well I dont understand computers and thats too complicated" boomer brainrot.

You know hwy it takes so long for garbage to get called out and bad decisions to be corrected? Your average person is a total ID10T.
 
  • Like
Reactions: trgz and scavengerspc
Theinsanegamer said:
Why would you connect your TV to the internet? If you cant think for 5 seconds and realize thats a bad idea you deserve the ads.
Click to expand...
Wait what? I thought it's perfectly normal. There are numerous reasons why one uses native apps instead of say a streaming stick.

For one, my Nvidia Shield, one of the best upscalers I found, doesn't support YouTube HDR, so I do use the native YouTube app occasionally and it works totally fine.

Also HDMI ports are scarce if there are soundbars and multiple consoles etc, and running signal through soundbars/HDMI switch can be unnecessarily costly and, again, a hassle to get e.g. HDR/120Hz working.
 
Last edited:
Theinsanegamer said:
Most people I know do so. The idea of plugging a box into a TV is just pure alien. HDMI? Is that a new identity? You tell people they can plug a roku into a TV and their mind goes blank. Tell them a PC can be used to stream media with no ads and they go into full "well I dont understand computers and thats too complicated" boomer brainrot.

You know hwy it takes so long for garbage to get called out and bad decisions to be corrected? Your average person is a total ID10T.
Click to expand...
Well, getting HDR and other graphics features from a streaming box can be difficult. Streaming services intentionally degrade the quality of their content outside of "offical" Streaming apps.

Ever wonder why you never see DisplayPort on TVs?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Top S
I've an LG OLED TV and don't connect it to my LAN. Plugged into the TV is an Amazon TV, Google TV and a PC with Windows Media Center 8.1. Plenty enough ads on all these other devices. The screensaver (PC side) is all our family pictures and so serves as a random changing picture frame in our family room.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Theinsanegamer
Personally, my TV is only a display for my HTPC. When I upgrade theTV, maybe LG, maybe Samsung, the TV will not get a connection to the internet. Problem solved!

My current "TV" is an LG and is not a smart one, thus does not have an Ethernet port or WiFi. Problem also solved.
 
  • Like
Reactions: scavengerspc and Theinsanegamer
I've had all the settings that allow abusive corporate annoyances turned off, on my LG C1. This includes setting screensaver ads to off.

I think I'm going to block future firmware updates that might change, or even remove, preference settings.
 
I think it's time for the FCC or FTC to force these companies to advertise these things as something other than TVs.
 
bviktor said:
Streaming services
Click to expand...
consoles, media boxes, and PCs all can do this as well, with far longer update schedules and better performance. And with PCs you can block ads too!
bviktor said:
and software updates, for example.
Click to expand...
Why do you need software updates? It's a TV. It displays pictures. Short of some firmware error that lights it on fire, it doesnt need updates.
yRaz said:
Well, getting HDR and other graphics features from a streaming box can be difficult. Streaming services intentionally degrade the quality of their content outside of "offical" Streaming apps.
Click to expand...
The same issue afflicts the smart TV apps. Those streaming boxes like Rokus are using "official" apps with HDR support. Same with apple TV and fire sticks.

The difference is, in 4 years your roku will still work. The smart TV, OTOH....
yRaz said:
Ever wonder why you never see DisplayPort on TVs?
Click to expand...
Because the media consortium wants a standard they can charge money for via licensing, instead of an open standard like Displayport.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mbrowne5061, wiyosaya, umeng2002 and 1 other person
scavengerspc said:
I wonder how many people do connect the TV.
I thought people interested in streaming would use an add on device because
built in streaming hardware is just miserably slow.
Click to expand...
I guess it's the other way around for most people.
they turn on the tv and see netflix app etc., so they wont bother to spend more money on extra dongles.
using built in os also means using built in video decoding hardware of the tv.

I still have chromecast ultra that I used on my old non smart tv.
I even made some apps that cast video urls to the chromecast
but I prefer to just use built in tizen on new samsung smart tv and modifies the apps to work with tizen.
 
Top S said:
...Also HDMI ports are scarce if there are soundbars and multiple consoles etc, and running signal through soundbars/HDMI switch can be unnecessarily costly and, again, a hassle to get e.g. HDR/120Hz working.
Click to expand...
Not when you're spending the kind of cash a G4 (the TV in question) requires; it comes with 4x, one of those being eARC. And if you're dropping $1.5-2.5K on a TV, you're probably thinking about spending another $500-$1,500 on either a soundbar or sound system (which will add a net of 2-4 HDMI ports to the total system at that price).

This isn't some intro-level TV from LG that they are trying to make their margins on. This is what they sell to budding home theater enthusiasts: people know know what HDMI is and intend to use it.
 
Why is nobody talking about LG OLED tv's recent firmware update that killed burn-in preventing screen saver from popping up.

There is nothing about this in patch notes, and cant find anything online any user comments. I know this is not some hardware failure on my tv, since I have three LG C3 tv's home and they all stopped displaying screensaver the same day
 
mbrowne5061 said:
Not when you're spending the kind of cash a G4 (the TV in question) requires; it comes with 4x, one of those being eARC. And if you're dropping $1.5-2.5K on a TV, you're probably thinking about spending another $500-$1,500 on either a soundbar or sound system (which will add a net of 2-4 HDMI ports to the total system at that price).

This isn't some intro-level TV from LG that they are trying to make their margins on. This is what they sell to budding home theater enthusiasts: people know know what HDMI is and intend to use it.
Click to expand...

Again - if someone drops $1.5-2.5K on a TV and knows what HDMI is, they would naturally expect 4K 120Hz HDR VRR and whatever other fancy stuff to work. And that's simply not the case with those 2-4 soundbar ports unless they have a new top-of-the-line model. Passing signal through soundbar is hard and it makes no sense to buy a new soundbar just because it does HDMI better.

And even then - some features are limited by the TV stick. For example, YouTube HDR not working on Nvidia Shield.

I literally have an earlier model of the same LG lineup, and went through the same hassle. Sometimes the native app does come in handy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Samsung and LG are working on the world's first "AI smartphone"
Replies
7
Views
96
MasterFig
M
midian182
LG UltraGear GX7 480Hz OLED gaming monitor now available to pre-order
Replies
3
Views
81
Cocojambo13
Cocojambo13
D
TCL faces backlash as its QLED TVs may not have any quantum dots
Replies
12
Views
265
PixelatedWolf
PixelatedWolf

Latest posts

Back