Opinion
The Mark Zuckerberg dystopia
by Oliver Herren
TV advertising dystopia – LG turns screensavers into ad space
11/10/2024
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
LG has declared war on the screensaver. Instead of giving our eyes and display a break, TV screensavers are now set to bombard us with ads. Welcome to a whole new dystopia.
Just when I thought the era of streaming might cause TV advertising to slowly die out, LG has come up with a grand idea:
to replace the standard screensaver with advertising.
Great. Just great.
Screensaver, as in saving your screen? Not with LG!
Sarcasm aside, as the owner of an OLED TV, I first and foremost consider screensavers to be, well, savers of screens. OLED panels are known for their vivid colours, contrast and black levels, but this comes at a cost: used incorrectly, they’re susceptible to burn-in.
In other words, screensavers aren’t just a fun visual gimmick. They also serve as a kind of life insurance for the pixels of an expensive OLED TV. But LG apparently sees things differently. According to the press release, LG views screensaver time as perceived downtime that could actually be put to better use. Namely, for advertising!
But wait, it gets worse: the images released so far suggest we’ll be getting static ads.
But hey, that’s the price we must pay for a «full-screen advertising experience»! And when LG calls it an «experience», it seemingly means business. In the press release, it almost sounds as if on-screen advertising is a new high-end feature that we’ve been missing out on in premium TVs. I just wonder how many of us have really been waiting to turn our TV into a flashing display ad with an even higher power consumption.
You can switch it off, but…
LG has yet to reveal which Smart TV models will feature this new form of advertising, to what extent, and how long the presumably static adverts will be displayed. It also remains unclear in which countries advertising space for the screensaver ads has already been sold. I could be getting all worked up for nothing here.
The only thing that is clear is that on TVs that support screensaver ads, the option has already been automatically activated in an update. If you want to know whether your TV is affected, you can check in the settings – and, fortunately, also put a stop to the ad flood. LG seems to have retained at least an ounce of common sense.
To switch off screensaver ads, click on the settings cogwheel on your LG TV. Go to General, then Additional Settings. There, you’ll find an option called Screen Saver Promotion. Switch it off to stop ads from being displayed. Importantly, this will not deactivate the actual screensaver, just the ads.
It’s no coincidence that the deactivation option is hidden so deeply in the convoluted menu structures that you practically need to be Indiana Jones to uncover it. And the fact that screensaver advertising is automatically activated without informing customers is also a bad look.
Marketing madness hits TV users
A device that was once considered an elegant piece of technology is suddenly becoming an advertising platform that hijacks our idle time. Lovely, just what we needed.
Sure, LG claims that screensaver ads increase brand awareness by a factor of 2.5. But honestly, who asked for that? Certainly, no customer switches on their TV in the hopes to be bombarded by advertising – least of all when the TV is supposed to be on sleep. Maybe we should all go back to good ole tube TVs. At least those are safe from screensaver ads.
Header image: LG Ad Solutions
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»
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