SEOUL: US-based connected TV advertising company Alphonso, majority-owned by LG Electronics, is gearing up for a Nasdaq listing in the second half of 2025, positioning itself at the centre of LG’s push to turn smart TVs into integrated digital platforms.
At a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday, Alphonso founder and board member Ashish Chordia emphasised the company’s role in advancing LG’s long-term vision for media-centric home entertainment.
“Alphonso will be instrumental in turning LG’s smart TVs into digital platforms where content, advertising, commerce and artificial intelligence seamlessly converge,” Chordia said.
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Alphonso specialises in TV viewership data analytics and personalised advertising.
LG entered the company in 2020 through Zenith, a subsidiary of LG Electronics, which acquired a 65.7% stake. Since then, Alphonso has launched LG Ad Solutions and rapidly expanded across North America, Europe and Latin America.
Leveraging LG’s webOS-powered smart TV ecosystem, which now encompasses more than 200 million devices worldwide, Alphonso has strengthened monetisation capabilities through targeted advertising.
Its core technology, automatic content recognition embedded in LG smart TVs, enables real-time tracking of viewing behaviour, allowing advertisers to manage campaigns from audience targeting and ad delivery to performance analysis on a unified platform.
Alphonso’s advertising portfolio spans native home screen placements, commercials streamed via more than 350 live channels and 7,000 video-on-demand titles and cross-device campaigns that extend to mobile, tablet and desktop users.
Chordia pointed to successful case studies as evidence of Alphonso’s impact.
A Lexus campaign tied to the US Open improved positive brand perception by 64% and boosted purchase intent by 37%.
Wells Fargo expanded its audience reach by 17.2%, while a pharmaceutical brand increased engagement among Spanish-speaking viewers by 15%.
Data analytics firm Experian recorded ad recall levels 13 times higher than the industry average.
LG Electronics sees Alphonso as a key driver of its broader strategy to shift from a manufacturing-focused home entertainment business to a media and solutions-oriented division.
In January, LG Electronics chief executive officer Cho Joo-wan revealed that advertising and content revenue generated through webOS surpassed one trillion won in 2023.
By 2030, the company aims to grow platform-based service revenue more than five-fold, with platform operations expected to contribute over 20% of total operating profit.
“Through Alphonso, this vision will become a reality,” Chordia said, noting that the firm competes with Samsung Ads and Roku in the global connected TV market.
“We will continue to work with LG to accelerate technology investment, platform innovation and global expansion.”
Alphonso has already filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
While declining to disclose specifics of the initial public offering timeline or deal size due to regulatory restrictions, the company confirmed that it has met the conditions for a US listing agreed upon at the time of Zenith’s investment. — The Korea Herald/ANN
