Subj : Your LG TV will get more free shows in the future and probably mo
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Jul 18 2023 11:15:04

Your LG TV will get more free shows in the future and probably more ads too

Date:
Tue, 18 Jul 2023 10:01:11 +0000

Description:
LG expands focus from purely hardware to a mix of hardware, services and ads.

FULL STORY
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LG makes some of the best OLED TVs and monitors in the business, but a recent 
announcement has revealed a major expansion of its offerings. LG CEO William 
Cho announced in a speech at LG Science park in Seoul, South Korea, a new 
direction for the company. 

Instead of being a hardware-oriented business, which makes most of its money 
when customers buy a new TV or display, it's going to become "a 
platform-based service business model that continuously generates profits". 
In other words: ads! 

Reading between the business-speak, it's pretty clear that you're about to 
start seeing a lot more ads on your LG TV, as well as an expansion of the 
available services you can stream. 

It's important to note that LG's television business is separate from LG 
Display, which is the company that actually makes the panels for LG and for 
many other manufacturers. These changes are purely about the TVs LG makes and 
the smart TV platform it owns, webOS. What exactly is LG up to? 

According to LG , it intends to "transform its TV business portfolio into a 
'media and entertainment service provider' by expanding content, services and 
advertisement in products, including LG OLED and LG QNED TVs, which have 
differentiated competitiveness". 

LG has already announced its intention to add more TV brands to its webOS 
platform, including a trillion-won investment in its own Roku-rivaling LG 
Channels. That's its FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) offering, similar to 
Samsung TV Plus , and it's a market that's growing, well, fast. LG Channels 
increased from 20 million users in 25 countries last year to 48 million users 
in 29 countries this year. 

LG also intends to provide webOS and LG channels to more external TV brands, 
and to bring webOS to "more product groups". Although, at the moment it isn't 
saying what those groups might be. 

Reading between the lines, the goal appears to be an expanded focus on 
quantity rather than quality. FAST isn't exactly a premium product but we've 
seen it used by the likes of Amazon Freevee and Roku to cut the price of TV 
hardware in exchange for more advertising on devices. It'll be interesting to 
see whether the policy only applies to more affordable models, as I can't see 
buyers who bought one of the best LG TV s being too happy about seeing more 
ads on their sets.



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/televisions/your-lg-tv-will-get-more-free-shows-in-t
he-future-and-probably-more-ads-too


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