LG Smart TVs, including OLEDs, now show screensaver ads - FlatpanelsHD

If there is a headline that could throw me into a rage it is this one.

1. If I purchase a thing I should have reasonable say over what it does.
2. My living room is not an okay place for your billboard to show up.

I have an LG TV. The display is incredible! But like all Smart TV's you cannot trust the software that runs on these things.

The announcement about screensaver ads on LG Smart TVs makes it sound as if the advertising team's priorities now overshadow those of LG's webOS team:

"The launch of our Screensaver Ads has been a significant milestone in enhancing viewer engagement on LG Smart TVs. This full-screen ad format has effectively utilized idle screen time to boost brand visibility. Feedback and study results have validated that these ads capture attention and drive meaningful interactions, making them an integral part of our ad offerings," said Chris Weiland, Director of Product Marketing at LG Ad Solutions.

Amazon, Google and Roku have long built their respective TV monetization strategies around ads, and with LG and Samsung turning webOS and Tizen into digital billboards, the only refuge appears to be Apple TV 4K, which can be connected to any TV. You can now disconnect your TV from the internet.

That my friends is why every TV I own has an Apple TV plugged into it and I never use any of the applications that run on the TV itself. I turn everything off and treat it like a simple display for HDMI.

I have however allowed them to be on WiFi because of my OCD needs to have current firmware. That is leaving a huge backdoor. I’m going to add a task to remove WiFi settings from all my TVs so that they cannot communicate with anything.