Advertising has reached consoles: LG owners complain about banners over games

LG TV users are complaining en masse about intrusive ads that began appearing after recent webOS updates. One Redditor reported that during the PlayStation 5 launch, a banner offering to order pizza appeared directly over the console's interface on his $1,400 OLED TV. According to owners, the ads appear even while using HDMI devices and playing games, and it's not always possible to disable them.

The discussion quickly gained momentum on Reddit: some users claim the ads were activated after the system update, while others recommend disconnecting the TV from the internet entirely or manually disabling advertising features in the settings. Some LG owners note that the banners appear even after disabling personalized advertising and "content recommendations."

This story has sparked a new wave of debate about how far Smart TV manufacturers are willing to go to monetize devices for which users have already paid a considerable amount of money. The opinion is increasingly being voiced online that modern televisions are gradually becoming not only screens for content, but also full-fledged advertising platforms.