Not only has LG started displaying screensaver adverts on its new 2024 TVs, but it's also now rolled them out to older models via a sneaky software update. FlatpanelsHD has seen the ads appearing on TVs from as long ago as 2020, and it seems that users weren't warned about the addition before they updated their TVs to the latest software.
Thankfully, you can (at least for now) turn them off, though the option is somewhat buried in the menus. To find it, go to Settings > General > Additional Settings and click off the 'Screen Saver Promotion' option. You can see the option in the photo above, which is of Alastair Stevenson's (What Hi-Fi? Editor-in-Chief) C2.
As wide as our reach is, there are lots of people who will never find this off switch, which is presumably what LG is hoping for. And who knows whether it will be removed in a future update.
LG would of course argue that advertising such as this enables it to make its TVs more affordable – and it's true that LG tends to undercut the competition on price, if not at initial launch, then after a month or two on sale – but I would argue that if that's the aim, it should offer a paid-for option to remove them, which is what Amazon does with its ad-supported Fire tablets.
It certainly shouldn't be adding ads to TVs that people bought years ago, either.
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