Yume and LG Unveil First Ad Platform for Web-Enabled TVs

Video ad network Yume and LG Electronics have partnered to create an ad platform for Internet-connected televisions. Toyota has already signed on as the platform’s charter advertiser.

The platform will primarily deliver ads to apps supported by Internet-connected TVs. Some ads, including those from Toyota, would also appear when viewers are navigating other connected aspects of their TVs, such as the app store.

The hope is to combine the interactive and tracking capabilities of Internet ads with the large screen and high-resolution of television. Yume said it hopes to use behavioral tracking patterns it has gleaned from its online ad network to better target the ads on Web-enabled TVs.

“The LG ad platform will enable several common digital ad formats such as interactive display banners, in-banner video and in-stream video as well as some new ad units such as click to sponsored applications and search-related ad units,” said Sam Chang, general manager of LG’s Smart TV Innovation Development Group, in a statement.

Yume, which is based in Redwood City, CA, will sell the ads and split the revenue between LG and the application providers. Yume’s ad platform will be available to other manufacturers of connected TVs, as well. As of now, no other such deals have been announced.

About 42 million homes around the world have an Internet-connected TV, and most of them are in the U.S., according to an October report from Strategy Analytics. The percentage of U.S. homes with an Internet-connected TV is about 20 percent.