App-rich LG smart TVs blur lines with smartphones

From home workouts to math and science courses, thousands of apps now available on LG smart TVs are blurring the lines between TVs and smartphones.

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. said on Feb. 21 that its latest smart TV models come with more than 2,000 pre-installed or downloadable apps on average, 30% more than it offered in 2019.

The world's second-largest TV maker has been expanding the
apps available on its smart TVs to cater to stay-at-home consumers, who are increasingly using the monitor like a smartphone to play games, stream concerts and take online courses. 

"The frequency of use of the apps on LG smart TVs increased more than 10%, compared with 2019 before the pandemic hit," said an LG Electronics official. "In South Korea, the growth rate is faster than in other countries."

Among its popular apps are the 1M HomeDance, which provides how-to-dance programs from the 1Million Dance Studio, a popular dance academy in South Korea; and more than 10,000 pieces of educational content from Highbrow, an education platform, ranging from language and math to music and art.

Those apps are based on a Linux-based operating system made by LG, dubbed webOS, which are mostly available only on the company's range of smart TVs.

Smart TVs took up 88.6% of TVs that LG sold worldwide in 2021, up from 79.4% in 2019, according to research firm Omdia. In South Korea where LG focuses on high-end products, smart TVs accounted for 95% of the company's TV sales last year.  

As the manufacturer of the world's No. 2 OLED TVs, which boast stunning picture quality, LG is putting its focus on education and entertainment apps to offer immersive viewing experiences. The number of LG's smart TV apps falling into the two categories increased by more than 50% in 2021 from a year earlier.

Among its latest streaming apps, the LiveNow platform, launched last year, was a global hit. The app for pay-per-view concert live streams provides access to live and on-demand music events. The app enables viewers to interact with other fans around the world, who are also using LiveNow to tune in.

To address the diverse needs of its customers in the pandemic era, LG also differentiated the smart TV apps by country and region.

For example, it launched the remote-care service app for the elderly, Independa Health Hub, in the US and Canada, in partnership with Independa Inc, a TV-based care service provider.

In Europe and the US, it unveiled the Peloton App that provides access to thousands of interactive classes from the US-based fitness platform Peloton.

LG is now diversifying its smart TV apps into the digital art realm. It launched Drops Gallery earlier this month for the appreciation of non-fungible token artworks and cloud game services, or play games via an online game streaming service.

"Expanding our content services via smart TV apps fits in with our CEO Cho Joo-wan's management keyword of FUN," said the LG official. "We will study various ways to offer new experiences to consumers."

FUN stands for first, unique and new. CEO Cho took over the leadership last month.

Write to Su-Bin Lee at lsb@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article