LG sets up TV data analysis unit in UK to advance into European connected TV mkt

[Source: LG Electronics Inc.]

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. has established a U.K. operation of its TV data analysis company in a bid to strengthen its position in the European connected TV platform market.

According to LG Electronics on Tuesday, it has set up a U.K. operation of Alphonso, a Silicon Valley-based TV data analysis firm that LG acquired a controlling stake of in January last year.

Alphonso has TV data of 16 million households across North America thanks to its “Video AI,” which incorporates video and automatic content recognition (ACR) technology to collect and analyze content played on TV.

ACR technology is embedded in smart TVs sold by LG and other brands in the United States, and thanks to this technology, LG smart TV users can receive personalized recommendations.

With Alphonso’s signature technology, LG is readying to expand its presence in the European connected TV platform and addressable TV advertising market via the new British operation.

Powered by the data analysis solutions, LG’s smart TV content ecosystem has been rapidly growing. The number of countries, where “LG Channels” is available has surged by more than 50 percent in a year from 14 countries in August last year to 22 countries this year. “LG Channels” allows LG smart TV users to watch various channels without a separate setup box, and there are currently more than 1,500 free channels offered in total in those 22 countries.

LG Electronics is planning to use addressable TV advertising solution as a new revenue stream by making them available on LG Channels. Addressable TV advertising is a technology that allows advertisers to target ads to different households even as they watch the same program.

According to data from LG Electronics, the number of people that accessed LG Channels in the past month surged by 36 percent compared to a year earlier and the number of hours people watched channels on LG Channels rose by 58 percent on year during the same period.

LG Channel demand is set to grow rapidly thanks to the burgeoning global demand for smart TVs. According to market research firm Omdia, smart TVs are expected to account for 90.5 percent of global TV shipments, or 188.92 million out of 208.8 million total units in 2022. This would be the first time that the share of smart TVs is estimated to surpass the 90 percent mark. It will also be an 11.1 percentage point jump from when smart TVs made up 79.4 percent of total shipments in 2019.

Shares of LG Electronics traded up 1.47 percent at 103,500 won ($79.01) on Wednesday morning.

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