LG OLED TVs Started Showing Ads With Sound In The Menu

What has already caused problems with customers at other manufacturers is now heating up the minds of LG OLED TVs as well. The company recently started playing commercials with audio during app updates. The manufacturer plays with the tolerance of the customers.

LG enters the TV advertising business

Samsung had already got into trouble with the cartel office in Germany with overly aggressive advertising on its smart televisions, which describes the practice as “unreasonable harassment”. Nevertheless, manufacturers such as Sony and Vizio are also lively trying their hand at the idea of ​​continuing to earn money with paid displays in menus after purchasing the devices. The newest participant: LG has now started delivering advertising clips in its own content store in the USA.

As Chris Welch of The Verge reports, he recently saw such a commercial for the first time on an OLED TV from LG. Welch actually only wanted to update the apps on its 2020 model OLED CX but was greeted during the update process by an ad for the retailer Ace Hardware, which appears in an autoplay pop-up with sound.

At the moment, LG seems to be restricting the new form of advertising to devices in the USA only, it is not known what the plans for Europe are. With the display in the content store, you are currently going a more cautious way than Samsung, which displays advertising in the start menu and home screen.

New discussion

LG’s approach is also re-initiating the discussion about such forms of advertising. According to the principle that Amazon has been pursuing for years with its advertising-financed Kindle readers, TV manufacturers want to lower the prices of their devices through cross-financing with advertising. With its WebOS TV operating system, which LG also licenses to many other manufacturers, you could also set up a large advertising network here – the first attempts have already been made in Germany.

It remains to be seen how such forms of advertising will develop further, so far developers have often taken one step forward and then back again. But one thing has definitely crystallized since the emergence of such ideas: The tolerance of the users seems limited, here it is important not to overdo it.