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LG Smart TVs Are Showing Screensaver Ads to ‘Utilise Idle Screen Time’

Ashish Singh — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:09:17 +0000

LG smart TVs have reportedly begun showing advertisements to users on the screensaver screen. LG Ad Solutions, the company’s subsidiary focused on branded activities, announced this move earlier this month, and it appears that these ads have made it to the company’s smart TVs. Notably, the company highlighted that showing screensaver ads will make better use of the idle screen and engage users. The consumer tech company also said that showing these ads can increase clients’ brand awareness and perception.

LG Smart TVs Showing Screensaver Ads

Earlier this month, LG Ad Solutions announced the launch of Native Screensaver Ads, a full-screen advertising experience which activates on the home screen of LG smart TVs. The company added that this “ad format capitalises on idle screen time, turning what may be perceived as a period of downtime into a valuable engagement opportunity.”

According to a Flatpanelshd report, users are now seeing these ads on their smart TVs, including the high-end G4 OLED TVs. These ads are said to be displayed in either carousel format or full-screen. The content of the ads is said to be unrelated to the TV experience, and are largely brand-focused. These screensaver ads reportedly appear before the regular screensaver appears, and are localised in the language of the region the smart TV is set in.

LG Ad Solutions highlighted in its press release that similar ads will also be hosted on LG Channels (the company’s free and ad-supported streaming service) and Content Store. Highlighting the decision to introduce these ads, Dave Rudnick, Chief Technology Officer at LG Ad Solutions, said, “Now, 93% of viewers multitask while watching TV, engaging in activities like messaging, shopping, browsing social media, or playing games on their phones. Through testing, we validated that Screensaver ads present a valuable opportunity for brands to be front and centre on the largest screen in the room.”

Notably, many streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ Hotstar either have ad-supported tiers or show ads in between the shows. Technically, users do not own the content on those platforms and pay for a service, which is how these companies justify ad-based revenue. However, LG’s decision to show ads on the screensaver screen is unique in the consumer tech space as users have to watch ads despite paying for the smart TV upfront.

Google Announces Android 14 for TVs With Picture-in-Picture Mode, New Energy Modes

Ashish Singh — Fri, 17 May 2024 13:12:36 +0000

Google is finally bringing Android 14 for TVs to supported Android and Google TVs with multiple new features and improvements. The new operating system for smart TVs will finally add a picture-in-picture mode that will let users multitask and watch two different videos at the same time. Apart from this, the tech giant is also offering different energy modes to offer users granular control over energy consumption. New accessibility features as well as artificial intelligence (AI)-powered personalised descriptions are also being added.

In a post made on its developers-focused blog, Google said, “We’re bringing Android 14 to TV! The next generation of Android provides improvements in performance, sustainability, accessibility, and multitasking to help you build engaging apps for TVs.” The tech giant also announced a new Compose for TV feature for developers which will allow them to build new apps with Jetpack Compose, the company’s latest Android development toolkit.

The big focus with the new operating system is performance and sustainability. Android 14 for TV will get new energy modes that let users decide the experience they want from their Android TVs. There is a low-energy mode that will reduce the smart TV’s standby power consumption. Then, there’s an increased energy mode that keeps network connectivity active even when the TV is on standby. Finally, there is an optimised energy mode that supports Google Cast over Wi-Fi, but not through ethernet.

Multitasking is also a big focus area for the company as it is finally introducing a picture-in-picture mode. However, this will not be available on all smart TVs. Google says the feature is being reserved for ‘qualified’ Android 14 TV models. It has not announced the list of TVs which will offer this feature, but the rule of thumb says newer and premium smart TVs are likely to get it.

Finally, accessibility features are also being introduced. These include colour correction, improved text options, better navigation for users, and more. All of these features can be toggled on and off using remote shortcuts. Further, Gemini AI has also made its way to Android TV. Google will be adding personalised descriptions for movies and TV shows on the Android TV home screen, powered by Gemini.

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Samsung Partners With Wilder World Metaverse Game, Will Offer NFT Rewards as Part of Web3 TV Bundle

Ashish Singh — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:55:09 +0000

Samsung, the South Korean tech giant, has been taking small steps to engage with Web3 without directly exposing its massive user base to volatile digital assets. In a fresh development, Samsung has announced a partnership with metaverse game Wilder World. Through this partnership, Wilder World will provide NFT rewards to fifteen customers of Samsung’s exclusive Web3 TV bundle. This deal, for Wilder World, will offer the game inroads into millions of houses through Samsung’s smart televisions.

A free-to-roam metaverse ecosystem, Wilder World is primarily a competitive racing game that launched for alpha testing in December 2023 and will begin a wider rollout this year. The team behind the game announced its partnership with Samsung via an official post on X on Wednesday.

In Samsung’s next sale of exclusive Web3 TV bundles, fifteen select buyers will get Wilder World NFTs as rewards. Through this partnership, the metaverse game expects to add new players to its ecosystem.

Samsung, catching up with the advancements in emerging technologies, is essentially looking to connect with a newer generation of customers. The Seoul-based company is hence integrating Web3 elements like the metaverse and NFTs with its newer range of products.

Samsung has long maintained its lead in the television market. In 2023, the company reportedly occupied a 30.1 percent market share of televisions sold globally, which was slightly higher than the previous year’s 29.7 percent. With its new initiatives, Samsung could directly bring Web3 technologies to its vast user base.

This is not the first time that the tech mammoth has taken a Web3-friendly approach. In April 2023, for instance, Samsung teamed up with Crypto.com to bring asset trading services on devices from the Galaxy Z fold series.

In 2022, Samsung tied up with partners Theta Labs and Nifty Gateway to get NFTs to its smart TV and smartphone ecosystems.

In fact, the same year Samsung introduced the world’s first TV-based NFT explorer. Later that year, the company started rolling out smart TV models that came with features like NFT buying and management.

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Xiaomi Leads India's Smart TV Market in 2022 With 11 Percent Share: Counterpoint Research

Ashish Singh — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:27:22 +0000

India’s smart TV shipments recorded double-digit growth of 28 percent in 2022, which was led primarily by the festive season in the third quarter of multiple new launches, discount events, and promotions, said a Counterpoint Research report.

Moreover, demand for bigger screen-size TVs in the lower price tier also fueled the growth, it said.

While in the December quarter, after the festival sales, smart TV shipments were almost flat at 2 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) due to a slowdown in demand.

Smart device maker Xiaomi continued to lead India’s smart TV market in 2022 with an 11 percent share.

This was followed by Samsung, LG, OnePlus and TCL, respectively in the fast-growing Indian smart TV market.

OnePlus and TCL were among the fastest-growing smart TV brands in 2022, said the Counterpoint Research report.

While Sony was among the preferred brands in the premium segment.

In 2022, over 99 percent of the TVs were assembled locally, while only some high-end TV sets were imported by the brands, it said.

Moreover, 96 percent of the market is being driven by LED TVs, and MediaTek chips had around a three-fifths share of the total TV market during the year.

In the December quarter, top five brands MI, Samsung, LG, One Plus and TCL controlled 42.6 percent of the market share.

Senior Research Analyst Anshika Jain said, “OnePlus, Vu, and TCL were among the fastest-growing brands in the smart TV segment in 2022. Xiaomi led the overall smart TV market with an 11 percent share, followed by Samsung and LG.” Smart TV shipments in Rs. 20,000-Rs 30,000 price band grew 40 percent YoY to reach a 29 percent share. The average selling price (ASP) declined 8 percent YoY to around Rs. 30,650, Jain added.

“Smart TV contribution to overall shipments reached its highest-ever of 90 percent during the year. It is expected to go up further due to more launches in the sub-Rs. 20,000 price range and non-smart-TV-to-smart-TV migration. Non-smart TV shipments declined 24 percent YoY in 2022. Online channels increased their contribution to the total shipments to 33 percent during the year,” he said.

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