Amazon’s Prime Video will be the first streaming service to offer HDR10+ Advanced on supported titles globally beginning this month, Samsung Electronics said. The content will initially be made available on Samsung’s 2026 TV lineup.

The next-generation High Dynamic Range (HDR) standard—designed to deliver brighter, more immersive picture quality for supported movies and shows—brings the benefits of Enhanced Overall Brightness and Intelligent Motion Smoothing to streaming viewers for the first time, according to Samsung.

“As home viewing options become more diverse, users are prioritizing elite viewing standards and greater levels of immersion,” said Taeyong Son, executive vice president of Samsung’s Visual Display (VD) business. “By collaborating with Prime Video, we are bringing HDR10+ Advanced to home entertainment systems for the first time, we are elevating the home viewing experience all over the world.”

HDR10+ Advanced, billed by Samsung as the next evolution of the HDR10+ standard, is designed to take advantage of today’s most advanced televisions with their larger screen sizes, higher peak brightness, greater color depth and increased processing power while satisfying the requirements of top content distributors, the company said. The standard preserves the creator’s intent across compatible displays while delivering a more dynamic, lifelike viewing experience for supported content, according to Samsung.

It also introduces two new capabilities. The first is Enhanced Overall Brightness, which uses extended statistical metadata to make fuller use of today’s premium TV brightness capabilities—delivering brighter, more precise HDR across the full tonal range—and AI-driven tone-mapping, to preserve shadow detail in darker scenes and deliver heightened brightness in sports and action content, according to Samsung.

The second, Intelligent Motion Smoothing, uses scene-by-scene metadata to allow compatible displays to dynamically adjust motion processing, preserving the cinematic feel of film content while delivering smooth, natural motion for sports, action and other fast-moving scenes, Samsung said.

“At Prime Video, we’re dedicated to providing the best possible viewing experience and HDR10+ Advanced represents a meaningful step forward for our customers,” BA Winston, vice president of technology at Prime Video, said. “With Enhanced Overall Brightness and Intelligent Motion Smoothing, the picture quality adapts to bring out the best details in every scene and we’re excited to deliver richer, more dynamic visuals on the titles our Prime Video customers love on supported devices.”

The collaboration builds on the December 2017 launch of HDR10+ on Prime Video, which made it the first streaming service to offer the standard to customers. With that launch, Prime Video’s entire library was made available in HDR10+ via Samsung’s 2017 UHD TV lineup, using dynamic metadata to deliver enhanced contrast and color. Since then, 183 companies and more than 22,000 certified products have adopted the HDR10+ standard.

HDR10+ Advanced will be integrated into Samsung’s product lineup starting with 2026 TV models, with support planned for future products as the HDR10+ ecosystem continues to grow.

For more information on Samsung TVs, visit the Samsung website. For more information about HDR10+ Advanced, please visit the HDR10+ website.

NEW YORK—Samsung Ads named the first brands and agencies that will be taking advantage of the Amazon Ads’ remote-enabled interactive video ad (IVA) technology on Samsung TV Plus.

The capability, which was announced on Samsung’s NewFronts stage in March, allows consumers to shop from their TV set.

Partners include Boiron USA, Logitech, PLAION, PMG and Reckitt, who will be among the first brands and agencies to activate the new shoppable ad experience across Samsung TV Plus inventory.

The announcement marks a major step forward for Samsung shoppable CTV, extending interactive, remote-enabled ad experiences to Samsung TV Plus, the global FAST service of Samsung Electronics. Samsung TV Plus surpassed 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide this year, underscoring the growing strength of FAST as a premium advertising environment.

For brands selling on Amazon, “Add to Cart” functionality allows shoppers to purchase directly within their Amazon storefront with a seamless click of the remote. For advertisers who do not sell on Amazon, CTAs like "Send to Phone" and outcome-driven headlines like "Sign Up Today" extend engagement beyond the TV screen, Samsung said.

These shoppable TV experiences extend engagement beyond the TV and help brands continue conversation across devices.

Amazon Ads has noted that interactive video can drive 6X higher brand search, 4X more detailed page view, 4x more add to cart actions and 5x higher purchase rates, Samsung reported.

“The TV has always been the entertainment center of the home. Now people are using that screen differently — to discover, search, compare, and shop,” said Jimmy White, managing director of ad sales, North America, Samsung Ads. “For years, CTV has been a powerful tool for building awareness, but its greatest promise lies in driving full-funnel outcomes. With Amazon Ads, we're helping brands turn attention into action and close the gap between discovery and purchase.”

Flagship launch partners spanning consumer health, technology, toys, and entertainment are embracing the new shoppable experience as a way to reach engaged audiences, enhance product discovery, and create a more seamless path from content to commerce.

Parks Associates’ latest US household research from its Streaming Video Tracker shows the connected TV platform market remains concentrated among a small group of leading operating systems, with Roku OS (28%) and Samsung’s Tizen OS (23%) accounting for the largest share of usage in U.S. broadband households.

The firm’s data shows Amazon Fire TV, LG webOS, and Vizio SmartCast maintain mid-tier positions, while platforms such as Apple tvOS, gaming consoles, and Android TV hold smaller shares. This distribution reinforces the role of smart TV operating systems as the primary gateway for streaming content and services.

“Control of the platform layer is central to competition in the connected TV market,” said Michael Goodman, director, entertainment, Parks Associates. “Operating systems determine what content consumers see, how services are positioned, and how advertising is delivered.”

The data highlights the importance of platform ecosystems, as control of the TV operating system impacts content distribution, advertising revenue, and consumer engagement across the CTV market, the Parks' researchers reported.

With the growing role of AI in the TV OS for search and personalization, the importance of platform ecosystems is only going to grow in the coming years.

Parks described other key findings as follows:

• Platform concentration: A small number of operating systems account for the majority of CTV (connected TV) usage, limiting visibility for services without strong distribution partnerships.
• Stable market share: Platform rankings have remained consistent over time, with Roku showing modest growth and Samsung maintaining a strong installed base.
• Advertising control: Leading platforms manage ad inventory, data collection, and targeting, shaping monetization across the ecosystem.
• Discovery and engagement: The TV OS plays a key role in recommendations, search, and user experience, influencing viewing behavior.

NEW YORK—At IAB NewFronts 2026, Samsung Ads, the advanced advertising division of Samsung Electronics, unveiled a full-funnel performance platform powered by AI and shoppable innovation that includes a new commerce integration with Amazon to accelerate impact.

The integration with Amazon marks a notable expansion in the ease and capability of shoppable TV, providing advertisers with a full-funnel ad platform from ads to actual purchases.

Additionally, Samsung TV Plus announced an expanded offering with live events, creator-led programming and interactive experiences.

“This moment marks a new era of TV, and Samsung is leading what comes next,” said Sang Kim, executive vice president and head of North America Service Business, Samsung Electronics. “Consumers are choosing ad-supported streaming, creators they trust, and live moments they want to experience together, and brands need a platform built to turn that attention into action. By combining connection, intelligence, and outcomes, Samsung is moving TV beyond reach and into real, measurable performance that drives business growth.”

As part of the presentation, Samsung is announcing a partnership with Amazon Ads to bring Amazon’s remote-enabled Interactive Video Ad (IVA) technology directly to Samsung TV Plus. This makes Samsung TV Plus the first external CTV device partner to offer this capability through Samsung’s integration with Amazon DSP.

Launching in July, the integration enables viewers to take immediate action from their Samsung TV screen. For brands selling on Amazon, “Add to Cart” functionality allows shoppers to purchase directly within their Amazon storefront with a seamless click of the remote. For advertisers who do not sell on Amazon, outcome driven headlines like “Send to Phone” and “Sign Up Today” extend engagement beyond the TV screen.

In addition, advertisers will be able to access and activate Samsung TV Plus inventory through Samsung’s partnership with Amazon DSP, delivering the same seamless buying experience they are already familiar with. They can also tap into Amazon’s trillions of browsing, streaming, and shopping signals—brought together in Amazon Marketing Cloud—to unlock robust measurement and insights across the funnel.

“Our shoppable ad formats are proven to drive measurable performance on and off Amazon through our differentiated combination of broad reach and authenticated signals,” said Kelly MacLean, vice president of engineering, science and product for Amazon DSP. “By bringing Amazon’s interactive ad technology to Samsung through Amazon DSP, together we’re providing an experience for advertisers to deliver on any full-funnel marketing objective – whether it’s awareness, consideration, or conversion.”

Samsung Ads is also expanding its capabilities with new formats via Creative Canvas, its turnkey solution for brands to update their ad creative for CTV. New capabilities including product galleries, vertical video, and click-to-email are evolving the TV screen where viewers can deeply engage, explore, and shop.

“Shoppable innovation is no longer a future concept, it’s the standard,” said Courtney Howell, head of Agency Development, Samsung Ads. “With our new Amazon integration and the expansion of Samsung Ads interactive ad capabilities, we’re transforming the biggest screen in the home into a fully shoppable, performance-driven platform where inspiration, engagement, and purchase happen in the same moment.”

Samsung also highlighted AI-powered improvements to its platform. These include:

• AI-Powered Contextual Targeting: Continuous interpretation of action on-screen to influence timing, relevance, and the next best move, ensuring brands appear in the exact right place at exactly the right moment.
• AI-Powered Audience Collectives: Leverage proprietary Samsung insights across devices to identify those most likely to engage, convert, or respond – keeping campaigns precise, relevant, and highly effective.

“If Samsung TV Plus is the foundation and AI is the engine, performance is the impact,” added Kim. “When TV becomes interactive, performance follows. Samsung is turning attention into action by bringing intelligence, interactivity, and measurement together on the biggest screen in the home.”

During the presentation, Samsung doubled down on interactive experiences that create more meaningful connections between brands and audiences.

In 2026, Samsung TV Plus plans to embed interactivity across the entire service with partners like A+E Global Media, AMC Networks, LiveNOW from Fox, MotoAmerica, Mark Rober TV, TelevisaUnivision, and Vevo.

Newfront announcements regarding live experiences and exclusives arriving on Samsung TV Plus in 2026 included:

• HOOLIGANS: The ARCH Racing Project with Keanu Reeves & Gard Hollinger: Executive produced by and starring Keanu Reeves and Gard Hollinger, the six-part docuseries follows the founders of ARCH Motorcycle as they enter the world of professional racing with the same precision and innovation that defines their brand. Produced by V10 Entertainment, this underdog story offers an inside look at how the lean, scrappy, and dynamic team at ARCH punches above their weight as they go up against the giants of motorsports. Premiering this summer only on Samsung TV Plus, Hooligans: The ARCH Racing Project marks the service’s expansion into original content with its first-ever exclusive docuseries.
• Mark Rober Live Global Event (wt): In a top secret, two-hour global live event on Samsung TV Plus, viral inventor and former NASA engineer Mark Rober invites audiences into a real-time, high stakes scientific mission where discoveries unfold live. Blending cutting edge technology with unprecedented access, this is a rare moment where viewers won’t just watch history, they’ll experience it as it happens. Location and premiere date to be announced at a later date.
• MotoAmerica: Samsung TV Plus is revving up its live sports portfolio as the exclusive FAST home of MotoAmerica, the premier motorcycle road racing series in North America, streaming every live race for fans and delivering wall-to-wall coverage throughout the 2026-27 seasons.

NEW YORK—Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has announced that it is working with consumer electronics giant Samsung to create improved AI-enabled search and discovery features on Samsung smart TV.

“Samsung is committed to delivering the most useful and engaging entertainment experiences to our users,” said Bongjun Ko, corporate executive vice president at Samsung Electronics. “By combining our AI technology with Gracenote’s industry-leading metadata, we aim to push content search and discovery to new heights, delighting viewers by empowering them to find the entertainment they love intuitively and naturally.”

Accurate metadata regarding entertainment content is increasingly important for the training and deployment of large language models or LLMs for content discovery.

Samsung reported that using Gracenote metadata will help it deliver advanced search capabilities enabling users to find precisely the TV shows, movies and sports programs they want through more intuitive, conversational interactions.

In addition, its work with Gracenote will allow Samsung to offer new content discovery capabilities that will create more compelling carousels and recommendations of programs to viewers in lean-back experiences.

Beyond powering outstanding consumer-facing experiences that maximize engagement, the new agreement also allows Samsung to leverage Gracenote to develop innovative new offerings and realize AI-driven operational efficiencies.

“The structured nature of Gracenote’s entertainment metadata and the scale of our content coverage put us in a unique position to power LLM-driven use cases,” said Jared Grusd, CEO at Gracenote. “We’re pleased to join forces with Samsung and are confident our collaboration will yield innovative user experiences and benefits extending far beyond.”

LAS VEGAS—Parks Associates has released new consumer research from its “Tech Ecosystem Consumer Insights Dashboard” at CES 2026 showing that smart TVs are the dominant gateway for streaming video in U.S. households.

The new data indicates that 61% of U.S. internet households use a smart TV as their primary streaming video device, continuing the shift away from streaming media players, gaming consoles and other connected devices.

Among smart TVs, the research found Samsung’s Tizen operating system leads the smart TV market—34% of smart TV owners have Samsung Tizen OS as their most-often-used smart TV.

But the study also found that this market remains highly fragmented, with increased competition from Roku, LG and Vizio.

When accounting for all primary connected TV (CTV) devices in US internet households, including streaming media players and game consoles, Roku takes the lead as most-used at 28%. Roku has traditionally led in the streaming media player category and has steadily increased its share in the smart TV space, growing from 8% in 2020 to 18% in 2025.

The findings from 8,000 U.S. internet households underscore how control of the TV experience is consolidating at the OS layer, the researchers said.

“Smart TVs are the default way consumers access video, and so the OS has become the central point of competition,” said Jennifer Kent, senior vice president and principal analyst, Parks. “Samsung’s leadership reflects the strategic value of platform scale, particularly as advertising, subscriptions, and service integration move directly into the TV interface.”

NEW YORK—Samsung Ads has announced that its interactive ad format Samsung GameBreaks is now available programmatically, giving buyers access to fully customizable, co-branded interactive games within premium CTV inventory on Samsung TV Plus.

“In a world of endless content and increased competition for attention, advertisers need experiences that don’t just get noticed, they get played. Samsung is rewriting the rules of programmatic advertising with GameBreaks,” said Justin Evans, head of innovation and insights at Samsung Ads. “Through this expansion, we are continuing to deliver first-class ad experiences at scale. Our formats offer the flexibility our partners demand with a seamless and fast execution, pushing brands into user-forward ad experiences that consumers love and engage with.”

GameBreaks, which was launched earlier this year, is designed to turn a passive ad break into an interactive, gamified experience with bite-sized mini-games that viewers can play with their TV remote. Each GameBreak appears in the first ad pod within premium, brand-safe content on Samsung TV Plus.

Samsung also announced a successful campaign with the food media brand, Tastemade with GameBreaks. When paired with additional native and Samsung TV Plus media, the campaign reached 14.4 million unique U.S. households, the company reported.

In addition, Samsung Ads announced that it is launching two new game formats to the growing GameBreaks portfolio, bringing the total to seven turnkey formats designed to transform passive commercial breaks into memorable brand engagement moments. These new games, Crosslink and Mix It Up, offer even more creative flexibility:

• Crosslink challenges players to rapidly combine compound words against the clock, ideal for brand messaging tied to speed, efficiency, or discovery.
• Mix It Up is a visually dynamic, bespoke shell game-style challenge that lets viewers track hidden objects, creating playful brand engagement that drives recall and click-through.

“At Samsung, we’re always pushing the boundaries of what ad experiences can be. GameBreaks is revolutionizing the marketing world and re-engaging viewers by creating meaningful connections and tapping into people’s natural inclination to play,” added Avner Ronen, vice president of product development at Samsung Electronics. “We’re giving advertisers real-time, lean-in experiences that drive measurable performance. And we’re doing it with scale, speed, and simplicity, unlocking the next era of interactive TV advertising.”

AUSTIN, Texas—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced lawsuits against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL Technology Group Corp., accusing them of secretly recording what Texans watch in their homes.

Hisense and TCL are both based in China, which Paxton’s office says raises serious concerns about consumer data harvesting. The situation is exacerbated by China’s National Security Law, which allows its government to collect data on U.S. consumers.

At issue is the use of Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology, which Paxton alleges unlawfully collects personal data. ACR software can capture screenshots of a user’s TV display every 500 milliseconds, monitor viewing in real time and transmit that information to the company without the knowledge or consent of viewers, the AG’s office said.

Consumer electronics companies can then sell the consumer data ACR collects to target ads across platforms for a profit. The attorney general alleges that the practice puts sensitive consumer information, such as passwords and bank information, at risk.

“Companies, especially those connected to the Chinese Communist Party, have no business illegally recording Americans’ devices inside their own homes,” said Paxton. “This conduct is invasive, deceptive and unlawful. The fundamental right to privacy will be protected in Texas because owning a television does not mean surrendering your personal information to Big Tech or foreign adversaries.”

The lawsuits against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL are available online.

Netflix said it will make a major push into video podcasts, inking a wide-ranging deal with Spotify through which it will offer 16 podcasts in the U.S. starting early next year.

The Netflix agreement is part of music and podcast platform Spotify's push to expand beyond audio and become a major video streaming player.

In a separate deal with Samsung this week, Spotify entered the FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) space for the first time, teaming up with Samsung TV Plus to launch an exclusive new channel, The Ringer from Spotify. (More on that below.)

Sports, culture, lifestyle and true-crime video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer will now stream on Netflix. They include video for “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” as well as The Ringer’s NFL, NBA, fantasy football and F1 shows.

Also included in the Netflix deal are pop culture series like “The Rewatchables” and “Dissect,” as well as true crime pods such as “Conspiracy Theories.”

After launching the podcasts first in the U.S., Netflix plans to make them available to additional markets next year.

“At Netflix, we’re always looking for new ways to entertain our members, wherever and however they want to watch,” Lauren Smith, Netflix vice president of content licensing and programming strategy, said. “As video podcasts continue to grow in popularity, our partnership with Spotify allows us to bring full video versions of these top shows to both Netflix and Spotify audiences. From pop culture and lifestyle to true crime and sports, this curated selection of video podcasts adds fresh voices and new perspectives to Netflix, making our entertainment lineup more exciting than ever.”

The full list of podcasts is available here.

“This partnership marks a new chapter for podcasting,” said Roman Wasenmüller, vice president, head of podcasts at Spotify. “Together with Netflix, we’re expanding discovery, helping creators reach new audiences and giving fans around the world the chance to experience the stories they love and uncover favorites they never expected. This offers more choice to creators and unlocks a completely new distribution opportunity.”

In terms of the Samsung Spotify deal, the new FAST channel, Spotify's first such offering, launched Oct. 15 on Samsung TV Plus.

“Samsung TV Plus is where storytelling meets scale—and with this first-of-its-kind partnership, the biggest screen in the home becomes a stage for podcasting’s boldest video programming to come to life,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and global head of Samsung TV Plus. “The Ringer brings an arsenal of talent and some of the most dynamic, culture-shaping voices to Samsung TV Plus, where we continue to redefine what television can be, opening up an entirely new dimension of entertainment for audiences to explore.”

The Ringer Channel from Spotify is available on Samsung TV Plus. Samsung TV Plus is available on Samsung TV, Galaxy, Smart Monitor, and Family Hub devices. This includes the 2025 TV series, spanning Samsung Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED 4K, OLED, The Frame and The Frame Pro, which are powered by Samsung Vision AI

“Samsung TV Plus is where storytelling meets scale—and with this first-of-its-kind partnership, the biggest screen in the home becomes a stage for podcasting’s boldest video programming to come to life,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and global head of Samsung TV Plus. “The Ringer brings an arsenal of talent and some of the most dynamic, culture-shaping voices to Samsung TV Plus, where we continue to redefine what television can be, opening up an entirely new dimension of entertainment for audiences to explore.”

The Ringer Channel from Spotify is available on Samsung TV Plus. Samsung TV Plus is available on Samsung TV, Galaxy, Smart Monitor, and Family Hub devices. This includes the 2025 TV series, spanning Samsung Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED 4K, OLED, The Frame and The Frame Pro, which are powered by Samsung Vision AI

“Samsung TV Plus is where storytelling meets scale—and with this first-of-its-kind partnership, the biggest screen in the home becomes a stage for podcasting’s boldest video programming to come to life,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and global head of Samsung TV Plus. “The Ringer brings an arsenal of talent and some of the most dynamic, culture-shaping voices to Samsung TV Plus, where we continue to redefine what television can be, opening up an entirely new dimension of entertainment for audiences to explore.”

The Ringer Channel from Spotify is available on Samsung TV Plus. Samsung TV Plus is available on Samsung TV, Galaxy, Smart Monitor, and Family Hub devices. This includes the 2025 TV series, spanning Samsung Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED 4K, OLED, The Frame and The Frame Pro, which are powered by Samsung Vision AI

Samsung and ESPN have launched a limited time promotion for the ESPN Unlimited streaming service and new Samsung Glare Free TVs that will provide customers who buy select models with free access to the ESPN direct-to-consumer services, a $299.99 annual value.

“We want fans everywhere to have the best sports watching experience possible,” says Lydia Cho, head of product, Home Electronics at Samsung Electronics America. “Sunlight should never be your biggest rival when watching your favorite team play. Samsung Glare Free TVs help you virtually eliminate reflections, so fans catch every play in pixel-perfect detail, without distraction. Plus, Samsung TVs with the enhanced ESPN app will make your home the ultimate place to watch sports all year long.”

As previously reported, the ESPN Unlimited app offers access to all of ESPN’s linear networks as well as ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX, covering 47,000 live events each year.

Eligible models include the Samsung Neo QLED 8K (QN990F, QN900F) Neo QLED 4K (QN90F, QN1EF), OLED (S95F) and The Frame Pro. Buyers of those TV will be able to tune into the ESPN app across Samsung TVs and monitors.

“This collaboration with Samsung represents an exciting step forward in bringing unparalleled access to the best sports content to fans everywhere,” said Jo Fox, senior vice president of ESPN Marketing. “This offer makes it easier than ever for sports enthusiasts of any kind to immerse themselves in the action they love, right from the comfort of their living rooms. We’re redefining how fans experience sports together at home, combining the leading picture and screen quality of Samsung TVs with ESPN’s dynamic content to deliver a truly game-changing experience in a way that only Samsung and ESPN can.”

Samsung described the eligible TVs as follows:

• "Samsung OLED (S95F): Enjoy a stunning, cinematic picture with dramatic contrast on our brightest OLED with virtually no glare.
• Neo QLED 4K (QN90F): Take in the amazingly detailed picture and vivid color on this glare-free screen for viewing without distraction, even in the brightest rooms.
• Neo QLED 8K (QN990F): Experience our flagship 8K TV with our most powerful processor, Samsung Vision AI1, a Glare Free screen and a wireless connection hub2.
• The Frame Pro: Our most advanced Art TV offers a spectacular picture and stunning, sleek design – unlocking a collection of world-renowned artworks3 on a gallery-worthy display.."

To learn more about this offer, visit Samsung.com/SportsTVs.

For more information on ESPN Unlimited, visit stream.ESPN.com.

A new report from Samsung Ads provides some disturbing data for streaming services that have been spending massive amounts of money on their NFL and sports rights. The Samsung Ads’ Quarterly State of CTV Report found that while the number of new users to three apps that streamed live NFL football games grew by 28% over the 2024 regular season, 65% of those new users had churned out by March 2025, the month after the Super Bowl.

And while monthly hours per viewer increased by 57% during the NFL football season, by March monthly viewing declined 59% from its football-powered peak, the report found.

The report, which offers a deep dive into how audiences are consuming television in 2025 and where advertisers can unlock transformational value, also found that streaming now representing the majority of TV viewing time and Smart TVs increasingly used for more than just passive viewing, the findings underscore a new era for consumer attention, and for advertising strategy.

“We’re entering a new chapter in TV history, one where the living room screen is no longer just for passive entertainment,” said Justin Fromm, Head of Insights & Thought Leadership, Samsung Ads. “CTV is where consumers are spending time, engaging, and shopping. This report makes it clear: advertisers who continue to treat CTV like linear are leaving significant growth on the table. It’s time to embrace the full capabilities of the platform, not just for reach, but for outcomes.”

Other key takeaways included:

• The report underscores how new TV behaviors create new data signals that make CTV a powerful performance medium. TVs are no longer used for “just watching.” 83% of Smart TV owners, and 96% of those ages 25-34 use the apps on their Smart TVs for activities like social video, fitness and mindfulness, learning and education, and shopping. The data from these new ways for using the TV are highly predictive of consumer behavior.
• Built-in CTV operating systems have driven down the use of connected media devices by 31% from 2023 to 2024. And while CTV accounts for 55% of time spent with digital video, and continues to grow, 41% of ad campaigns' reach is duplicated across linear and CTV, wasting up to $141 billion in missed opportunities for conversion and reach.
• CTV accounts for 74% of viewing time on Samsung Smart TVs and 69% of streaming time is now ad-supported, representing a massive, scalable opportunity.
• Streaming Churn Remains a Challenge. Across all the apps in the Tizen device ecosystem, for every 10 users in the past 12 months, 9 have churned out by the most recent quarter. For the top tier of apps, 2 out of every 3 past year users have churned out by the most recent quarter.
• TVs Are Now Multi-Functional Digital Hubs. 83% of Smart TV owners use their TVs for more than shows and movies, including social media (37%), ambiance like background visuals or fireplace simulations (35%), workouts (33%), online shopping (26%) and smart home control (17%). Gen Z and Millennials are leading the charge toward interactive, commerce-enabled experiences.
• CTV: Conversion TV. With first-party data from over 77 million active TVs in the U.S., Samsung Ads enables advertisers to connect with the right audience, in the right moment, with the right message.

“This is not just a measurement story, it’s a roadmap for better results,” Fromm concluded. “We’re helping advertisers close gaps, spark action, and deliver campaigns that match how people actually interact with their TV today.”

The full report is available here.

Roku continues to lead the connected TV device market, with a 37% share globally and 37% share of the U.S. market in Q2 2025 according to Pixalate.

The data in the study is notable because it highlights the importance of various operating systems and platforms for app developers, advertisers and others operating in the CTV ecosystem.

During Q2 2025 Poku's market share far exceeded the nearest rival, Amazon at 17% globally and Amazon 17% in the U.S. but Roku’s share did decline slightly from a 38% share globally in Q1. It had a similar slight decline 38% share in the U.S. in Q1.

Pixalate ranks the leading CTV devices by their share of quarterly programmatic advertising delivered to various devices.

Globally, Roku 37% market share in Q2 2025 was followed by Amazon (17%), Samsung (12%), Apple (11%) and LG (7%).

In the U.S., Roku’s 37% market share in Q2 2025 was followed by Amazon (17%), Samsung (12%), Apple (12%), LG (7%), Vizio (4%), Xiami (2%), TCL (2%) and Sony (1%).

More data on other regions can be found here.

Samsung TV Plus has announced that it is expanding its existing lineup of more than 50 sports channels with five new free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services, making it one of the largest destinations for live streaming sports.

“We’re tearing down the paywalls that have kept fans from the sports they love,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and global head of Samsung TV Plus. “By teaming up with top leagues and bringing live games and iconic moments to our platform, we’re giving every fan a front-row seat.”

Samsung described the new sports channels as follows:

• Victory+ Anaheim: Local viewers can stream live Anaheim Ducks games, along with additional sports entertainment including highlights, recaps, and epic match-ups that bring fans closer to the action.
• Victory+ Dallas: Local viewers can stream live Dallas Stars games, along with additional sports entertainment including highlights, recaps, and epic match-ups that bring fans closer to the action.
• Roku Sports Channel: Catch everything from live MLB games to Formula E races to X Games, among others. Plus, stream daily sports talk from Rich Eisen and Good Morning Football: Overtime.
• NASCAR: Watch the latest news from around the sport, original programming, and race replays.
• PBR RidePass: Live and on-demand action from the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast Tour, PBR Team Series, Ultimate Bull Fighting, rodeo and other western sports events, plus original series and news.

Other sports services include:

• NFL Channel: 24/7, always-on access to NFL content featuring Game Center on live game days, with real-time scoring updates, stats, highlights and more, as well as NFL Game Replays, Original Shows, Emmy-Award winning series and more.
• MLB: Brings the best of baseball coverage, allowing viewers to enjoy the MLB FAST channel with daily programming and features covering the latest baseball highlights, MLB and MiLB game replays, original shows, documentaries, and more!
• FIFA+: Brings fans into the heart of football with the iconic World Cup Archive, Live football from around the globe and documentaries bring the stories behind the beautiful game. Go behind the scenes with spotlights on global stars, fans and influencers and relive iconic football moments with full match replays from past FIFA World Cup™ and FIFA Women’s World Cup™ tournaments.
• Formula 1 Channel: The ultimate destination for fans to catch up on all the action from F1, F2, F3 and F1 Academy races throughout the season, including analysis, replays and documentaries.
• PGA Tour: Delivers total coverage on all things PGA Tour, with behind-the-scenes programming, documentaries, tournament recaps, highlights, competitions, and more.
• UFC: Delivers nonstop combat sports action—from historic title clashes to highlight-reel knockouts—featuring iconic athletes, rivalries, and moments from the world’s premier MMA organization.
• Ion: Returning in May, the “State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight” showcases marquee games from across the league throughout the regular season. Ion also features National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) action, and this fall, debuts the biennial SI Women’s Games all-star competition and the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off women’s college basketball tournament.
• Tennis Channel 2: Tennis Channel’s second network, airing select live tournament coverage from both the women’s and men’s professional tours. The network also features original series and unique storylines and interviews from shows like Second Serve.
• Women’s Sports Network: The new home for women’s sports featuring exclusive live volleyball matches, breaking news and inspiring stories across all sports. The best leagues. The best athletes. The best of Women’s Sports all in one place. Featuring studio show “Game On,” live game action, signature originals, countdowns, highlights and more.
• PickleballTV: A 24-hour streaming network covering 1,000-plus hours of live tournament matches featuring the game’s top professionals and biggest stars.  PBTV also includes first-class instruction, lifestyle shows and pickleball news.
• CBS Sports HQ: A 24/7 sports network delivering everything that matters most to sports fans. With nonstop breaking news, highlights, instant reactions, picks and more.
• Fox Sports: Stream the best moments from FS1weekday studio shows, gripping documentaries and captivating podcasts, featuring well-known Fox Sports talent and media personalities.
• NBC Sports Now: Offers daily sports talk, live events and highlights. Watch Dan Patrick, Mike Florio, Dan Le Batard, Matthew Berry and Chris Simms cover the biggest stories on and off the field. And this month, NBC Sports Now went big with 113 hours of original NFL Draft content.
• DraftKings Network: Built for passionate fans and bettors, DraftKings Network is the one spot to get all in on NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and more sports content and celebrate the thrill of action.
• FanDuel TV Extra: Your new home for live sports and professional poker action. Watch live horse racing, international basketball, soccer, darts, and much more. Make every moment more with FanDuel!

NEW YORK—Samsung Ads has debuted a new interactive advertising format, Creative Canvas, that helps automate and deliver interactive ads.

That makes Samsung Electronics the first television manufacturer to offer advertisers a comprehensive interactive suite of solutions to deliver interactive ad experiences and to measure their impact in real-time, the company reported.

The interactive ad solution is now available for advertisers in both the U.S. and Canada with a new creative suite that includes QR enabled ads and vertical video. Samsung said it has plans for SMS, Email, and Store Locator functionality in the future.

In announcing the launch, Samsung Ads said it has already started to work with top brands across quick-service restaurants (QSR), retail, automotive, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and more to deliver premium, cost-efficient ads that create value for consumers eager for discovery during commercial breaks.

“Interactive ads are an important way to create meaningful, immersive experiences that empower consumers to easily engage with brands just as deeply as they do with content,” said Michael Scott, vice president & head of ad sales and operations at Samsung Ads. “As actionable video formats take shape within the CTV space, Creative Canvas offers our advertising partners a frictionless, one-stop-shop for memorable and dynamic ads.”

Samsung reported that with Creative Canvas, advertisers can seamlessly develop actionable ads through one turnkey solution. By simply submitting video creative with a brand logo and short CTA, in less than one minute, Samsung Ads’ cutting-edge Creative Canvas toolset can build custom-branded creative including a QR code.

Creative Canvas provides a unique opportunity for advertisers to run their social video content on the largest screen in the home – with the same level of engagement, measurement, and click-to-action received on smaller personal devices, the company explained.

It is an ideal solution for brands seeking to expand distribution of social media video assets. It gives brands the flexibility to include eye-catching vertical videos, allowing extended audience reach of their most viral content for greater return on creative investment, Samsung said.

Samsung Ads' enhanced advanced measurement tools and data-rich CTV ecosystem provide in-depth reporting on campaign performance and impact, including metrics like delivery, video views, engagement rates, clicks, and scans that powerfully deliver competitive campaign performance metrics.

For more information about Samsung Ads, visit: Samsung Ads.

Samsung TV Plus has announced that it is now offering nearly 700 streaming channels in the U.S.—more than any of the other major FAST platforms, the streaming service claims.

The service also reported gains in viewership. After announcing 88 million monthly active users in 2024, the service reported that engagement in Q1 2025 surged by over 30% year-over-year. In addition

Samsung TV Plus also noted that it has 70% more on-demand shows and movies to its library, resulting in an impressive 177% year-over-year increase in hours viewed.

Outside the U.S., the Samsung TV Plus’s global service offering has expanded to include over 3,500 channels.

“With Samsung TV Plus, we’ve transformed what streaming can be by offering premium, personalized entertainment at a scale no other FAST service can match,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and general manager at Samsung TV Plus. “This year, we’re deepening that commitment by delivering even more high-quality content, richer viewing experiences, and greater variety of programming to ensure audiences always have something exceptional to watch.”

In the U.S. the curated line-up includes more than 100 exclusive channels. It delivers premium entertainment across all key categories including live sports, music, kids, Spanish language, K-Content, award-winning films, and popular TV shows. It also has comprehensive local news coverage in 114 DMAs.

“Samsung TV Plus’ robust content offering delivers even more opportunities for advertisers to reach their most desirable audiences by powering our AI-driven contextual offering,” explained Michael Scott, vice president and head of ad sales and operations for Samsung Ads, With Samsung TV Plus, brands and agencies can connect with their most important audiences in relevant, brand-safe environments to yield deeper connections and measurable outcomes.”

Samsung, a new NASCAR technology partner, will provide digital displays to elevate the stock-car racing circuit’s fan experience, racing operations and enterprise processes, the company said today.

The multiyear partnership will begin with the introduction of Samsung displays and monitors for NASCAR Productions’ newly launched remote race control room, Samsung said.

Housed in NASCAR’s 58,000-square-foot production facility in Concord, North Carolina, the control room features Samsung’s The Wall as its centerpiece, allowing officials to review comprehensive, real-time video, audio and data from the track and remotely officiate races. The Wall spans 32 feet in width and 9 feet in height, NASCAR said.

The new control room will enable NASCAR to remotely officiate large-scale races nationwide in a precise, data-driven way. During races, as many as 24 officials in the room will use The Wall as their primary screen to access replays from the SBG Sports Software system, which is capable of aggregating up to 200 camera angles, all driver audio and voice-to-text transcription of team radio transmissions, it said.

The Wall’s true-to-life picture quality will deliver footage and data with the finest level of detail, presenting crisp, clear information to remote officials so they can confidently make decisions on penalties and race results.

“Our indoor LED displays and monitors will help NASCAR fuel a new era of race-day precision from the first lap to the final stretch,” David Phelps, head of the display division at Samsung Electronics America, said.

“With superior visuals and real-time data, officials will experience unmatched clarity and insight into every moment of each race—offering a level of visibility that surpasses what they could see on-site at the track. This is just the beginning of our partnership as we help to pave the future of motorsports.”

Officials in Concord will remain fully immersed in the racing action via live feeds and intercom communications to consult with their counterparts at the track.

The Wall’s large-scale display provides officials with a real-time view of information as drivers make their laps and pit stops. The screen will display a variety of data, including feeds from onboard cameras, Engine Control Units (ECUs), optical tracking cameras, Pit Road Officiating (PRO) systems and official cameras positioned at the pit, start and finish lines, restart zones and other key locations, the company said.

Officials will use a range of Samsung monitors to gather and analyze insights, including 25 27-inch ViewFinity S6 high-resolution monitors and seven 49-inch Odyssey G9 monitors. The ultra-wide, curved Odyssey G9 monitors offer extensive screen real estate where officials can simultaneously view and assess multiple data sources, enhancing their ability to support track operations, it said.

“Remote Race Control will give NASCAR officials unparalleled views of more than 200 camera angles with multiple data points from every car that were previously not available,” Steve Stum, NASCAR vice president of operations and technical production, said. “It will also allow us to make competition calls faster and more accurately than ever before to ultimately help improve the product.”

The remote race control room will be fully operational and revved up to support this year’s NASCAR Cup Series, which kicks off with the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 2.

More information is available on the company’s website.

The Samsung TV Plus free streaming service has reached an exclusive agreement to offer "Letterman TV" as a free-ad-supported streaming service in the U.S. and Canada.

The FAST channel will offer “Late Show With David Letterman,” curated moments, and never-before-seen commentary from host David Letterman, where he reminisces about some of his most iconic interviews, exclusively on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung reported.

“I’m very excited about this,” said Letterman, whose 33-year career as a late-night host spanned tenures on CBS’s “Late Show” from 1993 through 2025 and NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” from 1982 until 1993. “Now I can watch myself age without looking in the mirror!”

Walter Kim, executive producer for digital at Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, added that the channel will draw on more than 4,000 hours of content with a 24/7 binge channel and free on-demand with new content being added every month.

The channel’s initial offering includes Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks playing “The Newlywed Game,” Denzel Washington sharing laughs with Don Rickles and Dave, Will Ferrell’s comedic antics, musical performances by legends like Ringo Starr and stunts like Dave working at Taco Bell and jumping into a giant bowl of eggnog.

Viewers can also expect classic celebrity interviews, Top 10 lists, segments like “Stupid Pet Tricks” and holiday specials. Exclusive intros from Letterman will also offer fresh commentary and behind-the-scenes anecdotes, Samsung said.

In the U.S., Letterman TV will also be available on-demand via half-hour compilations of favorite moments that defined late-night television.

"Letterman TV" adds to Samsung TV Plus’s growing portfolio of exclusive content with over 3,000 channels worldwide.

DALLAS—Parks Associates has released a study highlighting how a handful of tech giants dominate the platforms used for streaming video and media among U.S. internet homes.

The firm's new study, “Battle of the Platforms: Assessing Connected TV Ecosystems,’ said Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV are the most popular brands of streaming media players purchased, while Samsung is the most popular brand of smart TV purchased. Together, these three brands dominate in terms of consumer viewing habits, with 65% of U.S. internet households naming one of these brands as their primary streaming video device.

The study also found Roku and Amazon are the most popular brands of streaming media players among owners and in U.S. households overall. Both have expanded into smart TVs as well, broadening their overall CTV platform penetration.

“Samsung has a sizable lead in the smart TV market,” Parks President and Chief Marketing Officer Elizabeth Parks said. “The company’s strength in smart TVs earns it the No. 2 position in CTV platform use, even though Samsung does not have a separate streaming media player offering.”

Parks also reported that it will highlight the results of that study and others during its seventh annual Future of Video event, set for Nov. 19-21 at the Marina del Rey (California) Marriot.

“Most consumers prioritize software capabilities, customer service, and hardware specifications when purchasing a new smart TV,” Parks said, “but a cohesive and carefully designed interface within a single operating system can significantly enhance the user experience after purchase and help to increase brand stickiness. At Future of Video, we will address strategies to increase consumer loyalty for these platforms, devices, and streaming services.”

Future of Video hosts hundreds of leaders in entertainment to discuss ad-based and subscription streaming, bundled services and the changes around advertising and video services. More information is available here.

New research indicates that Roku remains the top connected TV (CTV) streaming device in North America, with a 37% share of the open programmatic ads sold on specific devices in third-quarter 2024.

Samsung Smart TV (17% share), Amazon Fire TV (15%), Apple TV (11%), and LG (10.8%) round out the top-5 CTV platforms in North America.

The new Pixalate reports, which are broken down by region, also found Roku on top in Latin America with a 50% share of what Pixalate calls Market Share of Voice (SOV). SOV is calculated by the share of the open programmatic ads sold on specific devices.

Other key findings include:

• Roku leads in market share in Latin America with 50% SOV, followed by Samsung Smart TV (21%), LG (7%), Amazon Fire TV (3%), TCL (3%)
• Samsung Smart TV devices lead in EMEA with 30% SOV, followed by LG (16%), Amazon Fire TV (15%), TCL (12%), and Sony (6%)
• While Roku leads in market share in North America (37%), it saw a 29% decrease YoY.

For the report, Pixalate analyzed open programmatic advertising activity across more than 100,000 CTV apps and nearly 6 billion global open programmatic ad transactions in Q2 2024.

The full reports can be found here.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—Bitcentral is now making its ViewNexa streaming platform available on Samsung Electronics’ Samsung TV Plus, the company said.

Samsung TV Plus has experienced a 60% year-over-year growth in viewership around the world. With availability on Samsung TV Plus, ViewNexa gives its users a new way to deliver live and ad-supported video-on-demand VOD content to millions of Samsung TV viewers without requiring a subscription or external device, it said.

“Integrating with a Tier-1 platform like Samsung TV Plus brings tremendous business value to our customers,” said Sam Kamel, CEO of Bitcentral. “As audience demand for streaming video continues to rapidly grow, by integrating our platform into the Samsung TV Plus ecosystem, we help our customers reach an important and growing base of viewers. As the streaming landscape evolves, ViewNexa’s availability on Samsung TV Plus underscores Bitcentral’s ambitious vision for providing customers the best platform for streaming media distribution and monetization.”

As part of the Samsung TV Plus ecosystem, ViewNexa customers can now have their content reach millions more viewers around the world. ViewNexa customers are on Samsung TV Plus in North America and Europe, Bitcentral said.

More information is available on the Bitcentral website.

LONDON—The latest Omdia Mini LED Backlight Market Tracker indicates that LCD TV displays equipped with mini-LED backlight units will hit 6.2 million units in 2024 and surpass the OLED TV display market for the first time in 2025 with 9.3 million units. 

The new Omdia report forecasts that Samsung Display and LG Display are forecasted to produce 6.8 million units of OLED TV displays in 2024, including both WOLED and QD OLED TV variants and reach 7.5 million units in 2025. 

Since 2022, the LCD TV display market with mini-LED backlight and quantum dot materials has experienced substantial growth. This expansion is driven by the continuous cost reductions through effective supply chain management of the mini-LED backlight and advancements in quantum dot materials. While OLED TV displays are celebrated for their infinite contrast ratio, exceptional color gamut and fast response times, the combined mini-LED backlight and quantum dot-equipped LCD TV display is now challenging OLED TV's dominance, the researchers said. 

The mini-LED backlight enhances dimming functions and HDR capabilities while quantum dots boost color gamut performance, leading LCD TV OEMs and panel makers to adopt both technologies to elevate their product specifications.

Samsung, LG Electronics, Sony, TCL and Hisense are all aiming for double digit growth in their mini-LED backlight TV display shipments in 2024 and 2025.

“OLED TV panels offer significant advantages in the high-end TV market, such as higher brightness, better environmental friendliness due to fewer components and materials, no halo effect on the screen since there is no mini-LED grouping for dimming zones, and a strongly established premium TV image among consumers," commented David Hsieh, senior research director in Omdia's Displays practice. 

“However, mini-LED backlights are now competitive in several aspects : a mature supply chain, the shift to larger LCD TV displays, the cost-effective 500-2,000 dimming zones, the production of super larger size like 85-inches and above, and ample capacity for LCD TV open cells,"  added Hsieh. 

"Therefore, there will be intense competition between mini-LED backlight LCD TVs and OLED TVs moving forward, which will help expand the high-end TV segment and align with the trends towards larger sizes," concluded Hsieh.

NEW YORK—The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising has expanded the reach of its measurement software development kit to include Samsung and LG.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab’s decision to include the companies in its Open Measurement Software Development Kit (OM SDK) is seen as an important step on the road to establishing a standardized, reliable measurement of viewing across all digital platforms, the lab said.

"We're seeing the importance of standardizing campaign measurement and verification across digital ad platforms, especially with CTV's [connected TV’s] growth," said IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur. "By expanding OM SDK for CTV to encompass additional platforms, we're ensuring advertisers and agencies access consistent, normalized measurement metrics, ultimately addressing industry demands for improved cross-device and environment measurement, which supports increased ad spend on CTV platforms." 

The software development kit is widely adopted for iOS, Android and web video platforms. It is now extending its reach to encompass CTV with a holistic measurement solution. The addition of Samsung and LG means many more CTV households are covered by OM SDK. CTV households now account for 40% of the market, IAB Tech Lab said.

OM SDK for CTV aims to address the fragmentation of measurement signals across various platforms with a unified framework for measuring CTV-specific viewability signals, such as TV off, device type and viewing duration, similar to its implementation in mobile apps and web video, the lab said.

The kit’s signals can provide advertisers and ad buyers with standardized measurement, thereby helping them address the escalating complexity of CTV inventory and ensuring campaign transparency and accountability, it said.

More information on OM SDK for CTV and integration guidelines is available on the lab’s website.

NEW YORK—At the IAB NewFronts 2024, Samsung Ads announced a new lineup of premium sports, music, family and entertainment content on its leading FAST service Samsung TV Plus that included plans to launch FAST services with live sports from MLB, PGA Tour, F1, and ONE Championship on Samsung TV Plus.

 Samsung TV Plus is announcing an exclusive partnership with Warner Music, which will bolster the nearly 500 existing premium national and local channels already on Samsung TV Plus.  The Warner Music content will be available on Samsung's recently created Music destination. 

“At Samsung Ads, we leverage Samsung innovation to deliver superior experiences to customers and advertisers alike,” said Michael Scott, vice president, head of ad sales and operations at Samsung Ads. “Our AI and data-driven advertising solutions will better help advertisers meet their objectives across the full marketing funnel, from achieving mass reach to bottom-of-funnel outcomes like customer acquisition. And, when combined with the number one reaching and most engaging FAST service, based on time spent viewing, Samsung TV Plus, advertisers will have a direct connection to audiences who frequently return for quality content.” 

The new lineup of content included top sports, family and music content via a number of programming partnerships.  

The service, which grew over 60% year-over-year, announced a suite of major league channels that will deliver live sports from Major League Baseball (MLB), The PGA TOUR, the American Hockey League (AHL), and ONEChampionship (MMA), along with Formula 1’s first FAST channel. These channels include: 

• MLB: Samsung TV Plus and MLB are partnering up to bring the best of baseball coverage to FAST, allowing viewers to enjoy the MLB FAST channel with a weekly game replay, Minor league game replays, and game recaps, among other content exclusives to come later in the season.
• PGA Tour: This new offering will deliver total coverage on all things PGA TOUR, with behind the scenes programming, documentaries, tournament recaps, highlights, competitions, and more.
• AHL: Samsung TV Plus will be the first FAST platform to air live American Hockey League games through the Los Angeles Kings affiliate, the Ontario Reign. 
• Formula One Channel: We’re also delighted to have Formula 1’s brand new FAST Channel at launch. The Formula 1 Channel is the ultimate destination for fans to catch up on all the action from F1, F2, F3 and F1 Academy races throughout the season, including analysis, replays and documentaries.
• ONE Championship TV: The launch of ONE Championship TV will bring combat sports content to the service. Featuring unique live events to TV Plus, highlights, series and behind-the scenes access from the world's largest martial arts organization.
• Music, Mattel, and More Arrive Exclusively 

 As part of the new partnership with Warner Music, Samsung TV Plus will also feature exclusive music playlists like:

• The Drop: A video on demand playlist experience that will tie to the launch of new album releases and will feature artist’s career retrospectives, behind the scenes content, interviews, premiere and new album content.
• Artist Odyssey: A chronological journey through a Warner artist's catalog. There will be never-before-heard stories about the videos that impacted generations—all told through firsthand accounts from friends, video directors, label heads, artist managers, fans, and sometimes the artists themselves. 

The streaming platform noted that these channels come on the heels of Samsung’s milestone partnership with Mattel to launch three new channels, “Barbie and Friends by Mattel,” “Hot Wheels Action by Mattel,” and “Mattel Jr.” making the iconic kids brands available to families across the country for the first time ever, on a premium, brand-safe FAST platform, accessible through a dedicated kids entertainment hub.

“Since day one, creating a service that delivers the very best in entertainment for the entire family has been our focus, and with this newest suite of major league sports channels and first-to-FAST content from Mattel and the Warner Music Group, we’ve raised that bar to new heights,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and GM, Samsung TV Plus. “This is not just the kind of programming that consumers love, but also the content that brands and advertisers are looking for at a scale, which only Samsung can deliver.”

In addition to the new content, Samsung Ads also showcased a number of new solutions for advertisers and its plans to use AI to increase the value of CTV advertising.  

“At Samsung, we envision a future where intelligent, interconnected experiences enrich our lives. That's why we're prioritizing AI, as it is the cornerstone of our innovation,” said Cathy Oh, vice president, head of marketing, Samsung Service Business. “Through our ongoing investment in AI, we continuously push boundaries and set the benchmark for the Smart TV industry and in turn, fuel world-class solutions for advertisers.”

These efforts include: 

• Samsung Ads is now providing advertisers new opportunities to connect their campaign messaging across both CTV and mobile. This new offering comes at a pivotal time as the Samsung News Galaxy mobile app is set to feature curated, up-to-the-minute Olympics content this summer in partnership with the International Olympic Committee. Starting next month, advertisers can now directly sponsor the Samsung News app on Galaxy devices with roadblocks that include both display and video ads in its top five editorial news sections.
• Samsung Ads is expanding its suite of AI-powered performance solutions, Smart Outcomes, with two new solutions. These new offerings come on the heels of the successful launch of Samsung Smart Audiences, combining the scale of Samsung’s ecosystem with the power of AI and machine learning to drive conversion:
• Smart Acquisition: Smart Acquisition is a new solution designed for content partners seeking to acquire new users with greater efficiency and efficacy. By leveraging Samsung’s proprietary data and unique AI technology, Smart Acquisition helps content partners by delivering their ads to the right person at the right moment to deliver the highest likelihood of conversion.
• CTV to Mobile: Designed for partners with mobile apps who are looking to acquire and engage with consumers with greater efficiency and effectiveness, this new solution enables advertisers to leverage Samsung’s unique Smart TV real estate paired with the company’s unique AI capabilities to acquire new users and drive engagement to their mobile apps. In addition, advertisers can prove more ROI by measuring return on ad spend through Samsung’s partnerships with the industry’s top mobile measurement providers.
• Sharper Measurement And Targeting Powered by Proprietary Data For “Optimal Reach”. Optimal Reach unlocks insights across linear and streaming to identify gaps in reach, unexposed audiences, and target “missed audiences’ at scale using machine learning through a single source solution that leverages a myriad of proprietary Samsung Ads data sources including its TV & You panel data, linear and in-app ACR data, as well as other data signals. Optimal reach can be used for reporting and targeting.

Samsung also announced plans to launch new interactive gaming experiences. The company said that it will be expanding games in a whole new way – transforming an ordinary ad break on Samsung TV Plus into a game break: an engaging, interactive gaming experience. With this new innovation, Samsung will allow more people to play and offer every kind of game for every kind of player, with no game controller required.

Later this year, Samsung will soon roll out new games to kick off new ways to play without a controller: 

• Rivals Arena: A cinematic card game from Return Entertainment coming exclusively to Samsung TVs using any smartphone as a controller. Players can jump right in by grabbing their phone and scanning a QR code. Advertisers can sponsor Rivals Arena with interstitials in between gameplay and endemic brands will have an opportunity to cobrand the entire game experience.
• The Six: The Six is an interactive trivia game built directly into a Samsung connected device. Anyone with a Samsung TV remote can play The Six directly on their TV, while advertisers can cobrand the entire experience to drive brand engagement and recall.
• Samsung’s gaming offerings will continue to evolve with the introduction of new games that can be played in entirely new ways, with more on Samsung’s gaming initiatives, as well as how advertisers can get involved, coming soon.

Samsung Ads’ presentation was held at Lavan Midtown in New York City. For more information on Samsung Ads and the services available on Samsung Smart TVs, please visit www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/ 

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has announced plans to launch its portfolio of free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on LG Channels, Samsung TV Plus and TiVo+. 

With 54 channels across Europe, Sony One will be one of the largest portfolios of FAST channels to be deployed when it debuts in April, the companies said. 

"Sony Pictures recognizes the potential of the free ad-supported television space to engage new viewers globally with our extensive feature film and TV series catalog spanning 100 years. Our entry into the FAST space in Europe reflects our dedication to making premium content accessible to audiences on new and important distribution channels," Pete Wood, senior vice president of digital sales, distribution, SPE.

Sony One’s channels will be curated and programmed for local markets in different territories, with content being broadcast primarily in each region’s native language. Territories at launch include the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Channels include: 

• Sony One Comedy TV: Laugh-out-loud comedy series including Seinfeld, The Nanny and The Goldbergs offering a laid-back, light-hearted viewing experience to share with family and friends.
• Sony One Thriller TV: Action-packed, high-thrill series like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and Justified that keep diverse audiences on the edge of their seats, with a focus on crime procedurals and exhilarating adventures.
• Sony One Faves: Timeless classics and fan favorites including Bewitched, Community and Dawson’s Creek that evoke nostalgia across generations.
• Sony One Comedy HITS: Classic, quotable comedies with iconic scenes and characters such as Step Brothers, Jerry Maguire and Easy A, that embody pop-culture across the decades; perfect for laughs around the clock.
• Sony One Action HITS: Dedicated to action and adventure movies from box office hits to critically acclaimed films like District 9 and the Men in Black and Zombieland franchises, that provide a non-stop thrill ride.
• Sony One Shark Tank: One of the most successful reality shows in the world, aspiring entrepreneurs
• pitch their business ideas to moguls, known as the “Sharks,” in hopes of landing investment funds in this U.S. adaptation of the British and Japanese reality hit Dragons' Den.
• Sony One Dragons’ Den: The juggernaut reality format behind Shark Tank, aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to multimillionaire investors, in the hope of landing investment funds.
• Sony One Blacklist: Dedicated channel featuring the crime thriller series following a most-wanted fugitive who works with a rookie FBI profiler to take down criminals and terrorists.

In addition to Sony One, SPE’s FAST offerings include Sony KAL Hindi, its Hindi destination in the US and Canada, and its portfolio of Spanish-language FAST channels for the U.S. Hispanic audience; and FAST channels in Mexico and Brazil.

LAS VEGAS—Last year the biggest TV buzz at CES was all about “wireless” TVs. This year, the world’s largest TV manufacturers are all about transparent screens for the home.

At CES2024 this week, LG Electronics unveiled what it’s calling the “the world’s first wireless transparent OLED TV.” The LG SIGNATURE OLED combines a transparent 4K OLED screen and LG’s Zero Connect box to beam video in 4K HDR to the screen, even at 120Hz. 

LG says the 77-inch LG SIGNATURE OLED T is powered by the new α (Alpha) 11 AI processor and is “practically invisible” when turned off, bringing new possibilities of placement within a room, i.e. not necessarily bolted to the wall. It comes in stand-alone, against-the-wall or wall-mount options and viewers can further customize by adding standing or floating shelves on either or both sides of the screen to best suit their unique tastes and preferences.

The OLED T can be used as a transparent digital canvas for showcasing artwork, videos or photos with the Always-On-Display (AOD) feature. Content displayed on the transparent screen appears to float in air, yet simultaneously fuses with the surrounding space to create a compelling and atmospheric visual effect. 

Another option is the T-Bar feature that displays an info-ticker along the lower part of the screen. The T-Bar displays news alerts, weather updates or the title of songs being played while the rest of the screen presents a clear, unobstructed view of the space behind it.

LG says its new α (Alpha) 11 AI processor offers 4x greater AI performance, providing a 70% improvement in graphic performance and a 30% faster processing speed compared to its predecessor. 

Meanwhile, Samsung trotted out its new transparent MICRO LED display—again touting it as the world’s first. Although Samsung was fairly mum on the technical details, according to Engadget, the Transparent MICRO LED’s crystal-clear, glass-like display comes in three versions, two featuring a tinted glass panel making it easier to detect and a third version with regular glass but a more defined physical frame. 

Neither company has released price details but LG says its transparent OLED will ship in 2024. TV Tech sister brand TechRadar has more information on LG and Samsung’s new TVs.

NEW YORK—TelevisaUnivision’s global streaming service, ViX is launching 10 new channels in the U.S. on Samsung TV Plus, the TV manufacturer’s free ad-supported TV (FAST) and video on-demand (AVOD) service. 

The launch on Samsung TV Plus in the U.S. marks the first launch of the 10 ViX channels on a FAST and AVOD platform, the companies said. 

With content spanning news, sports, entertainment, novelas, comedies and lifestyle, the new channels include Noticias Univision 24/7, Zona TUDN, Rebelde, Cine de Oro, Aqui y Ahora, Cine de Retro, Galanes. Pequenos Gigantes, Como Dice El Dicho and Las 3 Marias.

“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Samsung TV Plus and extend the footprint of our leading ViX channels for consumers to enjoy the best in Spanish-language entertainment,” said Adam Waltuch, executive vice president of global distribution and streaming partnerships at TelevisaUnivision. “This launch builds upon the incredible momentum we’re seeing for ViX and enables us to deliver even more touch points for our audience in all the places they consume content.”

“With hundreds of channels in the U.S. alone, Samsung TV Plus is not only a destination for premium content we know consumers love, but also one of the leading destinations for Spanish language content,” said Takashi Nakano, senior director of content and business development, Samsung TV Plus. “We value our marquee partners like TelevisaUnivision and are thrilled to expand our collaboration that brings even more programming to users that reflects the rich diversity of viewers.”

The new ViX channels add to existing Samsung TV Plus’  TelevisaUnivision offerings, which include Novelas de Romance, Villanos de Novela, JaJaJa and Grandes Parejas. 

The breadth of channels adds to the platform’s year-round multicultural offerings, in addition to content honoring this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, the companies said. 

NEW YORK—The Fox Weather has inked new distribution deals with Samsung TV Plus and Cox that will expand the reach of the free ad-supported service to millions of new viewers. 

“As the fastest growing weather service in the country, we look forward to welcoming Samsung TV Plus users and Cox subscribers to Fox Weather’s innovative, best-in-class service,” president, Sharri Berg said in a statement. 

Starting August 23rd, Fox Weather will be available on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s free ad-supported TV (FAST) and video-on-demand (AVOD) service. Viewers with a 2016 or later Samsung Smart TV will be able to access the comprehensive weather service on channel 1010. It will also be made available on Samsung Galaxy devices, Samsung Smart Monitors, Samsung Family Hub and the web.

The new distribution agreement with Cox means that Cox Contour TV customers now have access to Fox Weather through Cox’s Expanded Basic package in several markets, including Las Vegas, Cleveland and Phoenix among others. This will add 1.7 million subscribers to Fox Weather’s distribution base. 

Since launching in October 2021, Fox Weather has added a number of distribution partners including Verizon Fios, The Roku Channel, fuboTV, YouTube TV, Fire TV Channels, Optimum, Spectrum, LG Channels, DirecTV Stream, Xumo Play, WOW!, Vidgo, TuneIn, Plex and Astound Broadband. The service continues to be available through Fox Television Station Diginets in top markets including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, among others.

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and Conan O’Brien have inked a deal that will bring his original Emmy Award-winning show “Conan” exclusively to Samsung TV Plus viewers starting next month. 

As part of the deal, the Conan O’Brien TV channel will launch only on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s 100% free ad-supported TV service (FAST) that delivers over 250 live channels in the U.S. and thousands of shows and movies on demand to millions of Samsung Smart TVs and Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

“We are thrilled to expand the reach of the show in partnership with one of the best brands in the world,” said Jeff Ross, the show’s executive producer. “Samsung TV Plus is the ideal home for Conan’s first FAST channel, given the scale and credibility of the service within the FAST sector. It allows us to instantly share some of the best moments of the show with our loyal fans and to reach new ones.”

The Conan O’Brien TV channel will deliver 24/7 programming, curated as 30-minute collections of clips featuring the best of Conan’s late-night archives, including sketch comedy, celebrity guests and more.

The clips will showcase some of Conan’s most popular celebrity interviews as well as fan-favorite segments like Triumph the Insult Dog and Clueless Gamer and appearances from Andy Richter, Jordan Schlansky and Sona Movsesian.

The FAST channel will feature 100 hours of programming at launch with follow.

“We are in a golden era of content creation and Samsung TV Plus is fiercely committed to staying at the cutting edge of the premium programming that consumers want,” said Salek Brodsky, senior vice president and general manager of Samsung TV Plus. “Samsung is proud to launch Conan’s first FAST channel and bring his signature brand of comedy to millions of Samsung TV Plus users. We greatly value our collaboration with such innovative and creative partners and look forward to continuing our efforts to deliver laughs, fun and entertainment to audiences at home and on-the-go.”

Samsung TV Plus has added new channels to its offering of free-ad support FAST channels, with the launch of channels devoted to "The Price is Right" game show, Jamie Oliver cooking shows and the "Divorce Court".

The additions boost its total offering to more than 250 premium channels spanning news, sports, entertainment, auto, and more. 

The new channels will be available across the U.S. on millions of Samsung Smart TVs, galaxy devices and the web.

The Price is Right currently has seasons 11-14 in rotation. 

Jamie Oliver features programming from 22 series and a variety of cooking formats, including stand and stir, travel food adventures, documentaries, and shows where the star competes with his own best friend.

Divorce Court, which is Samsung owned and operated, offers programming from the court show. 

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.—Authorized Samsung retailers are making the company’s 2023 Neo QLED 8K TV and Neo QLED 4K TV available to shoppers this week for the first time, the company said today.

The latest models join the company’s large home entertainment portfolio, which includes The Frame and The Freestyle models, projectors and home audio.

The new 8K and 4K Neo QLED models offer brilliant picture, dynamic audio and seamless connectivity. They are vivid enough to be used in bright rooms, Samsung said.

The models rely on Samsung Quantum Mini LED technology, which powers up to 33 million pixels and delivers 1 billion colors. Offering an advanced Neural Quantum Processor that leverages 14-bit processing and AI upscaling, the new QLED TVs up-res content automatically to 4K or 8K resolution, it said.

Both new televisions automatically apply scene-by-scene high dynamic range (HDR) in real time with Auto HDR Remastering and leverage Anti-Glare and Ultra Viewing Angle technology, it said.

The virtually bezel-free Neo QLED 8K TV is powered by a grid of Samsung Quantum Mini LEDs. The Samsung Quantum Matrix Pro brings the smallest details to life with 1.5 times more lighting zones than standard Quantum Matrix Technology, it said.

Besides the Neural Quantum Processor that leverages AI, the new television supports Dolby Atmos, Object Tracking Sound Pro and Q-Symphony 3.0, it said.

The Neo QLED 4K offers a 4K upscaler, Quantum Mini LED technology, Neo Quantum HDR+ and HDR10+, Samsung said.

Both models have had their color validated by experts at Pantone. 

More information is available on the company’s website.

LAS VEGAS—This year’s edition of CES was vastly different from a quarter-century ago. Back then, televisions were just breaking free from low-resolution cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) as high-definition television was taking its baby steps. A 50-inch high-resolution display in 1998 contained just 1280 x 768 pixels (Wide XGA) and cost as much as a car. Rear-projection televisions were just switching to solid-state light modulators. And liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions weren’t even available—the largest flat screen TVs all used expensive plasma display panels (PDPs).

Today, all of those technologies (and some of their manufacturers) are distant, fading memories. We’ve had 4K TVs for over a decade, while 8K sets appeared five years ago. LCD technology rules the roost nowadays, and the median TV screen size is about 55 diagonal inches and slowly increasing. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have supplanted plasma for image quality, but with much lower power consumption.

But there are other contenders: Mini and microLEDs, quantum dots and QD-OLEDs are finding their way into televisions and computer monitors. What are the differences between them? Will they replace or obsolete any currently available displays? Read on…

Liquid-Crystal Displays and Enhancements
It didn’t take long for large LCD panels to become the preferred solution for large televisions after their introduction 20 years ago. Those original models have evolved from heavy, bulky designs using fluorescent lamp backlights to modulate thousands of tiny light-shuttering pixels, to sleek housings stuffed with light-emitting diode (LED) backlights. Over time, pixel counts have continued to grow as retail prices drop with increased manufacturing efficiency. 

The debut of high-dynamic range (HDR) video forced more design changes. Given the gross inefficiency of LCD imaging panels (only 5% of the backlight illuminance actually makes it to the front of the screen), other solutions were needed to boost brightness levels. One approach was to add a thin layer of quantum dots, tiny metallic particles that absorb blue light from LEDs and re-emit it as higher-intensity red and green light (hence, the quantum energy conversion effect). 

Televisions with a “Q” in their model names (like Samsung’s QLED TVs) use quantum dots (QDs) to produce high dynamic range images. These displays are still hamstrung by the light transmission inefficiency of LCDs, but they are now able to pump out luminance levels in the range of 1200 to 1500 candelas per square meter (cd/m2). TCL also manufactures LCD TVs with quantum dot enhancement layers. LCD TVs equipped with quantum dots are priced at a premium over conventional LCD models. 

There’s another way to achieve HDR imaging by packing more “mini” LEDs into a smaller area and change their light levels in step with luminance levels in video content, a process known as local area dimming. Sony and Hisense (ULEDs) use this approach instead of QDs. The challenge is to minimize LED light from bleeding into adjacent pixels, creating what looks like a halo effect around bright text and objects. 

Fixing that problem requires some additional structural changes to each pixel as well as specialized light modulation techniques. But there’s another problem looming—TVs using large matrices of miniLEDs for local area dimming consume lots of power, and pending European Union regulations on energy conservation may keep these models from ever coming to market.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays
OLEDs have been in development for decades, yet it seemed like they could never get over the finish line. Tricky to manufacture, they were susceptible to moisture and differential aging of colors. And you couldn’t drive them too hard, as they’d burn out quickly. 

OLEDs emit different colors of light when a low voltage is applied across a junction of organic compounds. Those colors are saturated and bright, and OLED displays exhibit high contrast, deep blacks, and wide viewing angles. Unlike LCD panels, OLEDs are very thin and can bend and warp. These latter properties have made it possible to offer foldable smartphones and tablets, not to mention digital signs that can be wrapped around poles, buildings, cars, and other objects.

There are two types of OLED displays in wide use today. For televisions, white OLED panels with color filters (WOLEDs) dominate the market. (The white color in RGBW displays is generated by a compound of blue and yellow organic chemicals.) LG Display is the source of all WOLED panels used in OLED TVs, no matter whose brand you see on the bezel. The underlying technology uses an RGBW pixel stripe to produce high levels of luminance (up to 1000 cd/m2 with a 10% full white window). WOLED televisions are available in sizes from 42 inches to 97 inches. 

The second type of OLED display, used in smaller products such as smartphones, has discrete red, green, and blue emitters (RGB stripe). Several companies manufacture RGB OLEDs, among them Japan OLED, Samsung Display, and Chinese manufacturers AUO and BOE. While RGB OLEDs can achieve similar peak luminance levels as WOLEDs, the largest RGB OLED display currently available is a 32-inch desktop monitor. 

The challenge for both RGBW and RGB OLEDs is the time to half-brightness of the blue organic materials. (A similar problem affected blue phosphors in color TV picture tubes and plasma displays.) Some clever solutions have been devised to overcome this problem, such as using multiple blue emitters with each running at reduced brightness. One way to get more luminance out of an OLED display is to employ microlens arrays on each pixel, collimating the light and directing more of it to the screen. This technique is currently implemented by LG on its latest series of Evo OLED televisions.

QD-OLED Hybrids
A new, clever hybrid display technology combines a stack of blue OLED emitters with red and green quantum dots. This QD-OLED hybrid was launched by Samsung Display last year at CES in 55-inch and 65-inch screen sizes and was joined by a 77-inch television at this year’s show (Samsung and Sony both sell QD-OLED models). QD-OLED TVs command higher prices than conventional LCD TVs and are priced on par with quantum dot-equipped sets and WOLED TVs. 

The big advantage of the QD-OLED is the simplicity of imaging layers—four in all—in the display panel. As an emissive display, it too exhibits excellent contrast performance, deep black levels, high color saturation, and a wide viewing angle. The blue OLED emitter is actually a stack of smaller blue OLEDs, each running at reduced power to extend their useful life. The rest of the horsepower comes from the quantum dots, with Samsung Display claiming a maximum luminance of 2,000 cd/m2 for 2023 models. Think of the QD-OLED as a turbocharged WOLED or RGB OLED!

MicroLED Displays
Display manufacturers are now prototyping televisions made up solely of tiny red, green, and blue LED emitters. These “micro” LED displays can also be used across a wide range of display products from smart watches and phones to tablets, computer monitors, and in transportation applications. To make this happen requires high manufacturing yields of microLED chips at a reasonable cost, which has so far proven to be a difficult task.

The advantages of microLED displays are in simplicity and image quality. Instead of the multiple light-absorbing layers of polarizers, backlights, and color filters in an LCD display, there’s just an array of LED emitters and transistors to switch them on and off. Since microLEDs are emissive displays, there are no issues with black levels and contrast flattening when viewed at wide angles. And they’re plenty bright at 1500 cd/m2, although they can easily hit peak levels exceeding 2000 cd/m2.

Although multiple companies are researching and developing microLED displays, only Samsung is currently offering models for consumers. At CES, they unveiled a 76-inch Ultra HD model to complement earlier 89-inch, 101-inch, and 110-inch offerings. The main selling point of the 76-inch Micro LED CX is that it can be installed by the end user. However, given the steep price point of the previously-introduced 89-inch model (about $80,000), it’s going to be a high-end, ultra-premium television for now.

Even so, many display analysts predict microLED displays will likely replace all other display technologies by the end of this decade—if manufacturing costs can be lowered and high yields achieved. And the odds are that it will happen. Recall that the first plasma televisions came with five-figure price tags, but by 2010 cost well under $1K. And the first 4K monitors (not TVs) sold in North America in 2012 were priced over $20,000! Today, you can buy a 65-inch “smart” Ultra HDTV for as little as $400 on sale.

Looking Ahead
Given the popularity of WOLED TVs, you’ll see more companies like Toshiba and Sharp offering them in 2023. LCD TVs will continue to be the cheapest TV offering, while QD-equipped models are slowly coming down in price to keep pace with OLEDs. 

As for microLED TVs—well, if you have eighty grand just lying around… 

LAS VEGAS—Samsung has announced its lineup of TVs for the 2023 CES, Jan. 5-8, including new displays in its Neo QLED, MICRO LED and Samsung OLED series and focusing on enhanced connectivity and personalized consumer experiences enabled by “a seamless multi-device integration across its entire ecosystem through its smart home platform SmartThings,” the company said.

“In 2023, we are pushing boundaries of innovation to offer consumers more than just premium picture quality, but a holistic, premium device experience tailored to what they need and want out of their connected home,” said Cheolgi Kim, EVP of Visual Display Business, Samsung Electronics. “With SmartThings, our advanced technology is seamless and intuitive, making life more sustainable, accessible and enjoyable everyday.”

TVs and Gaming
Samsung’s latest suite of Neo QLED 8K and 4K televisions use Samsung’s advanced Neural Quantum Processor, which supports the Quantum Mini LED-lit TV with 14-bit processing and AI upscaling, enabling features such as Shape Adaptive Light Control and Real Depth Enhancer Pro for a three-dimensional, lifelike picture, according to the company.

A new feature for the Neo QLEDs this year is “Auto HDR Remastering,” which uses AI deep learning technology to analyze and apply real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR) effects on Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) content on a scene-by-scene basis, making SDR content brighter and livelier for absolute immersion, the company said.

In addition, SmartThings users no longer need to purchase a separate SmartThings dongle to connect and control Zigbee and Thread devices. In 2023, the SmartThings Zigbee & Matter Thread One-Chip Module will be directly built into Samsung products and will automatically syncs devices for easier control of not just Samsung devices, but also third-party appliances and IoT devices. 

Other new features include the “Chat Together” live chat group; “ConnecTime,” which makes it easier to take video calls from connected devices, and 3D Map View, designed to let users conveniently control and monitor connected devices and giving users a “bird's eye” view of their home and all of their SmartThings devices at a glance.

The 2023 MICRO LED lineup offers new models ranging from 50- to 140-inches that can be expanded or reduced at will due to its modular nature. Samsung’s 2023 OLED lineup is now available in 55-, 65- and the new ultra-large 77-inch models. The OLEDs use Quantum Dot technology that was developed for Samsung’s Neo QLEDs as well as Neural Quantum Processors to retain OLED technology’s core strengths, while simultaneously improving limitations in its brightness and color representation.

The expanded lineup comes with a 144Hz refresh rate and all of Samsung’s smart features, including Samsung Gaming Hub. And for the first time on an OLED TV, Samsung OLEDs come with AMD's FreeSync Premium Pro certification.

Also new is “The Premiere 8K,” an 8K iteration of Samsung’s ultra-short throw laser projector lineup, with support for a maximum screen size of 150-inches. Samsung’s “The Freestyle” now comes with the company’s Smart EDGE Blending, which allows users to use two of the devices and watch content in a 21:9 configuration with no manual lining up or adjusting. The 2023 Freestyle will also support Samsung Gaming Hub.

Introduced in 2022, Samsung’s Gaming Hub, which gives gamers unlimited access to thousands of  games from Xbox, NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Amazon Luna and Utomik with no downloads, storage limits or consoles required, now includes GameBar 3.0 with MiniMap Sharing which enables players to see minimaps of their games at a glance on any display and Virtual Aim Point designed for first-person shooters (FPS), which allows players to view more noticeable crosshairs in any game. .

Sustainability
Targeting sustainability, Samsung says that starting with its 2023 lineup, the company will replace 20% of the bracket parts used for the SolarCell Remote with recycled ocean-bound plastic. In addition, the main parts of the power board now use recycled aluminum cans and copper, replacing approximately 12% of the original materials used, the company said. Samsung says it has also designed a light-weight injection mold that requires fewer materials, with a structure that can be repurposed, bringing down the overall energy consumption and raw materials needed for production. 

Through SmartThings, Samsung’s 2023 TVs now support AI Energy Saving Mode. SmartThings Energy Service on TVs helps reduce carbon footprint of connected devices with simple changes, such as automatic switches to energy saving mode on specific devices when not in use. 

Audio
On the audio side, in addition to the flagship soundbar, HW-Q990C, with 11.1.4 channel sound supporting Dolby Atmos, a new ultra-slim HW-S800B offers powerful immersive sound in Dolby Atmos from a 3.1.2 channel device that is just 40mm tall and 38mm deep, Samsung said. Also new is “Q-Symphony,” which uses  Samsung’s Neural Processing Unit to analyze audio signals and process each sound for more detail.

New data from Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence reveals the new Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro were the fastest popular 5G devices in the U.S. with a median 5G download speed of 177.21 Mbps for the 14 Pro Max and 175.08 Mbps for the 14 Pro during Q3 2022. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 was a close third at 162.50 Mbps, while the Galaxy S21+ 5G and Galaxy S22 Ultra rounded out the top five at 140.06 Mbps and 137.42 Mbps, respectively. 

The Ookla data also showed that Apple’s iPhone was the fastest device in a number of other markets around the world, 

All five of the fastest 5G phones in the U.K. where Apple devices, with the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max leading the pack. 

In Thailand the Apple iPhone 14 Pro was the fastest with a median 5G download speed of 236.35 Mbps.

During Q3 2022 in German, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max had the fastest median 5G download speeds in the country with 181.09 Mbps and 177.98 Mbps, respectively. In Germany the top four fastest phones were all Apple devices.

However, in South Africa, the Samsung Galaxy S22+ had a median 5G download speed of 228.31 Mbps during Q3 2022, making it the fastest. 

In the Philippines the Samsung Galaxy A53 led with a median 5G download speed at 199.90 Mbps.

In Japan, the Sony Xperia 1 II 5G held the top spot with a median 5G download speed of 224.68 Mbps. 

In China, Ookla reported that competition for the fastest popular 5G mobile device was very close with the OnePlus 9 5G in the top spot with a median 5G download speed of 349.15 Mbps, followed the Huawei P40 5G was at 344.41 Mbps, the Huawei Mate 30 5G at 344.23 Mbps, the Huawei Mate 40 5G at 332.39 Mbps, and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro 5G at 328.25 Mbps.

Speed tests were also very close in Brazil with no statistically fastest 5G device in Brazil during Q3 2022. The Motorola Moto G 5G Plus had a median 5G download speed of 358.39 Mbps, the Xiaomi Poco X4 Pro 5G at 355.43 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max at 344.44 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 mini at 341.21 Mbps, and the Apple iPhone 13 at 336.04 Mbps, Ookla reported. 

The full report is available here. 

Samsung has announced that its free streaming platform Samsung TV Plus has added five new free streaming channels in the U.S. 

With the launch, CBS Sports HQ, RetroCrush, Cowboy Way, Tastemade Home, and Vevo Holiday 2022 join the free streaming options on Samsung TVs. The Samsung TV Plus offering now includes nearly 250 premium channels spanning news, sports, entertainment, auto and more. 

In addition, Samsung said that Samsung TV Plus is offering a wide variety of holiday classics and seasonal feel-good content from channels like Hallmark, ION Plus, and more. 

It is also offering the Samsung owned and operated Holiday Movies Channel, which provides over 50 holiday movies from various content partners including Tesera, Candlelight Media, and MyTime. 

Samsung’s free streaming service is available in 24 countries and 465 million devices globally across TV and mobile. 

NEEDHAM, Mass.—Economic uncertainties helped push worldwide tablet and Chromebook shipments sharply lower in Q3 2022 compared to a year earlier according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The data showed that worldwide tablet shipments were down 8.8% year over year in Q3 2022, totaling 38.6 million units, and that Chromebook shipments fell to 4.3 million units, a year-over-year decline of 34.4%. 

Both markets have now shifted from supply constrained industries to ones that are demand challenged as consumer and education spending has slowed in the face of economic uncertainties, the IDC reported. 

IDC analysts also reported that Chinese vendors continue to do well in emerging markets where there is low-end demand and that sanctions from many vendors also enabled Chinese vendors like Huawei to perform well in the Russian market. 

Meanwhile, the emergence of low-priced Chinese OEMs like Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo and others, has fueled strong competition in the lower range devices. However, these gains still couldn't offset the decline experienced by the main tablet vendors.

Apple led in worldwide tablet shipments with 14.5 million units, a 37.5% market share, followed by Samsung (7.1 million shipments and a 18.4% share) and Amazon (4.3 million shipments and a 11.1% market share) in Q3 2022. 

"After massive growth in 2020 and 2021, a decline in the tablet market was expected in 2022. The market is now experiencing not only a slowdown in demand, but also some strong macro-economic headwinds. Even though most tablets (Android) and Chromebooks are lower cost, we're now seeing buyer concerns even at the low end. This is largely driven by these rising economic concerns," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, tablets have found many more use cases since the pandemic, from their role in the workspace to both in-person and remote learning, entertainment, and even digital transformations across various verticals."

"Chromebooks face a number of challenges in the industry, not all of which are because of limitations to the platform," said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers. "We firmly believe Chromebooks will continue to play a fundamental role in personal computing, and ultimately grow in presence compared to other existing platforms. But the growth will continue to be tempered as the industry adapts to this new environment we are all living in. We have seen many of the large PC brands prioritize around opportunities within the Windows PC space, and without their support from the supply side the Chrome market will continue to move rather slowly."

BOSTON—Global smartphone shipments fell 9% in Q3, 2022 compared to a year earlier but Apple had a strong quarter, boosting its share of the global business to 16%, the highest level in 12 years, Strategy Analytics reports.

Strategy Analytics is also predicting global smartphone shipments to decline by 9% to 10% for all of 2022. 

As global smartphone shipments fell 297 million units in Q3 2022, Samsung topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 22% share in Q3 2022 and Apple landed in second place, with Xiaomi, OPPO (including OnePlus) and vivo rounding out the top five smartphone providers. 

“Global smartphone shipments fell -9% YoY to 297 million units in Q3 2022,” said Linda Sui, senior director at Strategy Analytics. “This is the fifth consecutive quarter of annual decline by smartphone volumes. Inventory adjustments and geopolitical issues adversely impacted smartphone market in the third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, unfavorable economic conditions continued to weaken consumers’ demand on smartphones and other non-essential products.”

“We estimate Samsung shipped 64 million smartphones and topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 22% share in Q3 2022,” added Woody Oh, director at Strategy Analytics. “It slightly outperformed the total market and declined -7% YoY by shipment volumes. Demand tilted towards low- cost A and M series, while the newly launched Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 help the company strengthen the leadership in foldable segment. Apple shipped 49 million iPhones worldwide, up +6% YoY, for 16% global market share in Q3 2022. This is the highest third quarter market share for Apple over the past twelve years, at the expense of leading Chinese brands who are hampered by the sluggish performance in both home and overseas market. Apple had a good quarter, led by newly launched iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, while the demand for iPhone 14 remained mixed.”

“Xiaomi shipped 40.5 million smartphones and took third place with nearly 14% global market share in Q3 2022, slightly up from one year ago,” reported Yiwen Wu, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics. “Xiaomi outperformed other major Chinese brands and registered -8% annual decline rate, thanks to the well diversified regional footprint. However, Xiaomi continued suffering from the geopolitical uncertainties in Europe. China and India market also delivered a mixed bag for the Chinese brand. OPPO (OnePlus) held fourth spot and captured 10% global smartphone market share during Q3 2022. Vivo stayed fifth with 9% global smartphone market share in Q3 2022. OPPO (OnePlus) and Vivo both posted a double digit annual decline rate and lost ground in most markets, as 4G and 5G competition intensified sharply in China and other markets.”

Looking forward, Sui said, “we forecast global smartphone shipments to decline -9% to -10% YoY in full-year 2022. Geopolitical issues, economy downturn, energy shortage and price hike, exchange rate volatility, and Covid disruption will continue to weaken consumer demand during the last quarter of 2022. All these headwinds would continue through the first half of next year, before the situation eases in the second half of 2023. Samsung and Apple would continue to outperform and remain top two places. Chinese brands need to stabilize the performance in China market and explore new growth engine to terminate the falling track.”

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.—Samsung TV Plus has announced that it has added six new free ad-supported TV(FAST)  channels in the U.S. to the 220+ streaming services available on Samsung Smart TVs and Galaxy devices. 

These new channels, include Grit XTRA, ION Mystery, Halloween Movies, Midsomer Murders, NHRA TV, and additional Local News. 

Halloween Movies, which is Samsung owned and operated, offers such horror movies as “Bad Moon” and “The Exorcist III.”

Midsomer Murders features with long-running popular British mystery series. 

Additional Local News Channels include: WN Charlotte, WN Portland and WN St. Louis 

NEEDHAM, Mass.—The International Data Corporation (IDC) is predicting rapid growth in the worldwide shipments of foldable phones, including flip and fold form factors, with 13.5 million units shipped in 2022, up 66.6% from the 8.1 million units shipped in 2021. 

By 2026, an updated IDC forecast is projecting that foldable phone shipments will reach 41.5 million units in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.7% from 2022 to 2026.

That still represents, however, a relatively small share of the overall smartphone global market. The IDC is predicting that foldable phone shipments will comprise only 1.1% of the total market in 2022 and grow to 2.2% of global shipments of 1,458.8 million units.  

The healthy growth of the foldable market has been led by Samsung with its Flip and Fold lineup, IDC researchers noted. They expect the newly updated models will outperform their predecessors and grab more consumer attention in the category. 

The IDC also expects that the commercial segment of the market remains ripe for utilizing foldables as two-in-one devices that can replace both a phone and a tablet. 

In 2023, IDC is forecasting a 55.1% growth for foldables with continued double-digit growth throughout the forecast period.

"The recent launch of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Fold 4 will once again shine a spotlight on the entire category as Samsung continues to be the gold standard for foldable devices in the market," said Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "The new launches from Samsung have brought incremental but critical improvements over their predecessors. The success of these devices should be a strong indicator of how foldables will evolve and capture consumers moving forward. While the price remains a pain point for consumers, the $999 starting price may be accepted by consumers given that most consumer goods have seen price increases due to inflation in 2022."

If you're hoping to see big price drops in OLED TV prices over the next couple of years, it looks like you'll be disappointed. According to a report from Display Supply Chain Consultants (via The Elecand OLED-info), the two big makers of TV-sized OLED panels – LG Display and Samsung Display – will both stop spending on new equipment for building these screens in 2023.

This price of the best OLED TVs has fallen a lot in recent years, in no small part because of huge expansions in their creation – they've become more efficient and easier to mass-produce, and have become more popular as a result. But according to DSCC's report, that expansion won't just slow next year – it'll totally halt, with nothing at all spent on increasing production. 

That's likely to mean that the prices of the screens used in the majority of OLED TVs won't change much from now in 2023 or 2024. Now, the overall prices of the TVs could change depending on other factors (such as shipping costs), but the single biggest part of a TV is the screen, so that makes a huge difference to the overall price.

However, it's not all disappointing news: this actually sets the stage for new Quantum Dot OLED TV screens to close the price gap with regular OLED TVs faster than anticipated. 

QD-OLED screens are made solely by Samsung Display, and have only appeared in two TVs so far – the Samsung S95B and the Sony A95K – both of which earned rave reviews from us. However, the screens are very expensive to buy (much more expensive than regular OLED), and only comes in two sizes currently: 55 inches and 65 inches.

So when will there be bigger changes?

However, despite Samsung Display reportedly planning not to invest any more in QD-OLED production machinery next year, the company has already made huge strides in improving what it can do with its current machinery – and the DSCC report says there's more to come.

Having already dramatically improved the efficiency of producing QD-OLED on its current production lines (meaning each screen costs less to make), and introduced a 77-inch version of a QD-OLED TV screen, DSCC also says that Samsung should be able to create a thinner and simpler version of QD-OLED without spending more on new equipment.

It's possible that is related to Samsung's reported advances in producing blue OLED pixels – at the moment, multiple layers of blue pixels are used in QD-OLED screens to provide the light, but if that could be reduced to one, it would save materials and time, and so could bring the cost down further.

Because QD-OLED is still in its first year, all the advances Samsung Display has made on the tech recently have barely had a chance to register – so next, we might see more models at more affordable prices.

If the price of regular OLED stalls because of a lack of expansion and the price of QD-OLED is able to drop, the two technologies might become more competitive quicker than we expected.

The DSCC says there'll be no major investment in OLED TV screen production in 2023, but that this will pick up a lot in 2024… though most of it will come in one area: inkjet OLED production from a company named CSoT (which is owned by budget TV giant TCL).

Inkjet has long been the Next Big Thing in making OLED screens, because it's much easier than current options. As it sounds, it basically means a printer-like process is used to deposit OLED pixels onto the panel, which is far more efficient and much cheaper to set up than current 'masking' OLED manufacturing systems.

This is great news for the OLED industry becoming more competitive in the long term, because in the space of a few years we'll have gone from one single company (LG Display) making OLED TVs screens and controlling prices, to four: LG, Samsung Display, CSoT, and BoE, which is already working on its OLED facilities.

That means genuine competition, which is also likely to mean lower prices, particular  on regular OLED screens (only Samsung will be making QD-OLED for the foreseeable future) – though we may see some interesting differences in image quality, with several different production types being used.

However, if some of these advances won't start until 2024, then we won't see the fruits of their labor until 2025. QD-OLED will be able to start closing the gap sooner than that, though – it's going to be an interesting couple of years for OLED TVs.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, Tech Radar. 

Samsung has announced that it is working with Amazon’s Prime Video to offer fans access to exclusive 8K content from the upcoming “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series, which is set to bow on Prime Video on Sept. 2. 

As part of the collaboration, Samsung hosted an exclusive sneak-peek screening event featuring 25 minutes of content from the series’ first two episodes on its three-story LED video wall at Samsung 837 – its flagship experience center in New York City. 

Content from the series will also debut on Samsung’s LED digital screens overlooking New York City’s Times Square, London’s Piccadilly Circus, and Milan’s Piazza del Duomo.

At some as yet undisclosed time, Samsung also said it will be the first to offer “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series content in 8K resolution through a custom trailer with exclusive scenes. The content will be available on Samsung Neo QLED 8K TVs and “The Wall” 8K Micro LED displays. 

“Collaborations such as this mark a major milestone in bringing 8K – the most premium display technology – to the forefront for viewers,” said Simon Sung, executive vice president and head of the sales & marketing team of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “For the first time, fans can experience the stunning imagery of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Samsung Neo QLED 8K TVs.”

“When considering how to immerse our global fans in the world of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Samsung’s exceptional technology and screens felt like a natural fit,” said Andrew Bennett, vice president of global device partnerships at Prime Video. “Samsung’s depth, detail, and incredible passion for the series has started us on an amazing journey together – one we can’t wait for audiences to experience.”

For more details, please visit www.samsung.com.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J.—Smart TV manufacturers continue to push into the gaming sector with LG Electronics USA  partnering with Google Stadia to offer three months of access to Stadia Pro for both new and existing LG Smart TV owners. 

The announcement came on the same day that Samsung, which has launched a Gaming Hub on its TVs, made Amazon Luna cloud gaming service available on its smart TVs. 

Netflix meanwhile has been pushing aggressively into gaming and merger and acquisitions of gaming companies has hit record levels this year. 

Smart TVs have become an increasingly popular approach for gamers because they don’t require expensive consoles or PCs. 

The LG/Google promotion applies to LG TVs2 operating webOS 5.0 or higher in the 22 countries where Stadia, Google's cloud gaming platform, is now available.

Stradia offers more than 50 titles to play, with new titles added every month, unique discounts on games and add-on content regularly offered. 

Stadia Pro enables up to 4K HDR graphics, 60 FPS gameplay and immersive 5.1 surround sound,

The Stadia store also features over 250 popular games available to buy, including Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil Village, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Hitman 3 and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as access to a growing list of free games and demos, all playable with just a compatible controller and no game downloads or installs required.

The current cost of living crisis is having some unexpected effects. While the price of so many essential goods keeps ratcheting up month after month, we're actually seeing some of the most aggressive price drops on certain premium TVs in years, thanks to something of a perfect storm. And that's news for those who still have the money for them, but want to spend cautiously.

In particular, it's the price drops on the latest-gen LG C2, Samsung S95B and LG G2 TVs that really surprised me. These sets all use cutting-edge panels, yet their cost is falling faster than in previous years.

The perfect combination of factors to cause this is: people are less interested in buying premium products now that their household costs are spiking; people are also less interested in buying new TVs because so many of us bought them in the last two years, and now would rather spend money on being out and about; and Samsung launched its first QD-OLED TV, to compete with the best OLED TVs from LG, and would like you to pay attention to it please.

When you combine all these things, you've got two different companies battling each other for for money, in a market that isn't as hot for these products as it used to be. It's a recipe for prices to fall faster than usual, and that's exactly what we're seeing.

Where Do Things Go From Here?
The Samsung vs. LG part of it is the most interesting. Samsung's first 4K OLED TV, the S95B, is an incredible TV that launched at a high price, right in line with the also high-end LG G2. LG has dropped the price of the G2 by around 20% in the months since its launch, and so Samsung has followed suit by dropping the S95B by around 20% just weeks after its launch.

These have put price pressure on the LG C2, which is the more affordable option, but still contains a brighter new-generation screen than its predecessor, the LG C1, has. The more advanced TVs were dangerously close in price to the LG C2, so that's dropped in price too, to keep it competitive.

The really nice knock-on effect of this is that the 42-inch LG C2 OLED TV – which is under much less price pressure because it has no direct rivals on the market at the same price – has dropped to a very reasonable price much quicker than we expected.

And it's not going to end here, of course – these TVs have only just come out, so they're going to be competing for your money for another 12 months most likely, yet they're already shedding hundreds off their price.

The price battle among high-end OLED TVs is obviously great news for anyone who wants to buy one, and it'll keep getting hotter – Samsung has both production plans and new research that could make QD-OLED cheaper to manufacture.

But the real wins could come for those who want a more budget-friendly LED TV, if you buy later in the year.

That's because there's an even more perfect storm forming around LED/LCD TVs. For a start, you've got the exact same demand issues mentioned above where people are buying fewer TVs, but this has already caused the price of LCD screens to drop when building TVs, which means TVs being built today cost less (in some ways) to create than when models were announced earlier in the year. That means they'll drop in price. So you've got a triple demand whammy there.

And then you've also got the downward price pressure being applied by the Samsung/LG OLED price battle towards less expensive TVs. The LG C2 price drop pushed it to the same price as the Samsung QN85B entry-level mini-LED TV, which means Samsung has dropped the price of the that TV.

That means the price of more affordable TVs will drop in turn, like dominos. LG already dropped the price of its well-specced QNED80 LED TV for Prime Day, and we also saw over Prime Day that Hisense had dropped the price of one of its brand new affordable QLED TVs by around 30%.

Basically, we're seeing TVs in June falling to prices that we would have more expected in October or November – which means they'll have fallen even further by then, which means that the Black Friday deals could be… very good.

Obviously, we're in turbulent times, and lots could happen between now and then to change things. But for those who will have the money to spend on one of the best TVs this year, you're going to be able to get a serious bargain, that much is certain.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, TechRadar

SEOUL, South Korea—Imaging technologies for mobile phones and devices made a notable advance this week with Samsung Electronics Co. unveiling its new 200MP ISOCELL HP3 image sensor. 

The new image sensor boasts the industry’s smallest 0.56-micrometer (μm)-pixels, which will allow manufacturers of mobile phones to continue to offer much higher resolutions for their mobile phones while reducing the camera module area by 20%. 

The sensor is the company’s second 200MP sensor and its smallest. 

“Samsung has continuously led the image sensor market trend through its technology leadership in high resolution sensors with the smallest pixels,” said JoonSeo Yim, executive vice president of sensor business team at Samsung Electronics. “With our latest and upgraded 0.56μm 200MP ISOCELL HP3, Samsung will push on to deliver epic resolutions beyond professional levels for smartphone camera users.”

Since its first 108MP image sensor roll-out in 2019, Samsung has been pushing forward with the development of next-generation, ultra-high-resolution camera technologies that offer improved imaging capabilities in smaller sizes for mobile phones.  

The ISOCELL HP3, with a 12 percent smaller pixel size than the predecessor’s 0.64μm, packs 200 million pixels in a 1/1.4” optical format, which is the diameter of the area that is captured through the camera lens. This means that the ISOCELL HP3 can enable an approximately 20 percent reduction in camera module surface area, allowing smartphone manufacturers to keep their premium devices slim, Samsung said. 

The ISOCELL HP3 comes with a Super QPD auto-focusing solution, meaning that all of the sensor’s pixels are equipped with auto-focusing capabilities. In addition, Super QPD uses a single lens over four-adjacent pixels to detect the phase differences in both horizontal and vertical directions. This paves way for a more accurate and quicker auto focusing for smartphone camera users.

The sensor also allows users to take videos in 8K at 30 frames-per-second (fps) or 4K at 120fps, with minimal loss in the field of view when taking 8K videos. Combined with the Super QPD solution, users can take movie-like cinematic footage with their mobile devices.

The ISOCELL HP3 also provides strong low-light capabilities, with the Tetra2pixel technology that combines four pixels into one to transform the 0.56μm 200MP sensor into a 1.12μm 50MP sensor, or a 12.5MP sensor with 2.24μm-pixels by combining 16 pixels into one. The technology enables the sensor to simulate a large-sized pixel sensor to take brighter and more vibrant shots even in dimmed environments, like in-doors or during nighttime, Samsung said. 

To maximize the dynamic range of the mobile image sensor, the ISOCELL HP3 adopts an improved Smart-ISO Pro feature. The technology merges image information made from the two conversion gains of Low and High ISO mode to create HDR images. The upgraded version of the technology comes with a triple ISO mode – Low, Mid, and High – that further widens the sensor’s dynamic range. In addition, the improved Smart-ISO Pro enables the sensor to express images in over 4-trillion colors (14-bit color depth), 64 times more colors than the predecessor’s 68 billion (12-bit). Furthermore, by supporting staggered HDR along with Smart-ISO Pro, the ISOCELL HP3 can switch between the two solutions depending on the filming environment to produce high-quality HDR images, Samsung said. 

Mass production is set to begin this year, Samsung said, which means the sensor won't be available in mobile phones until 2023. 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Dish Network Corporation has announced that Samsung Electronics was selected for the deployment of 5G Open Radio Access Network solutions across Dish Wireless’ Smart 5G network. 

As part of the multi-year agreement, the companies will collaborate to deploy Samsung’s 5G O-RAN-compliant virtualized RAN (vRAN) solutions and radio units in markets across the U.S., supporting Dish’s 5G commercial services.

In addition, the companies said that the agreement will extend to retail wireless customers, providing them with leading-edge 5G devices for use on Dish Wireless’ Smart 5G network.

Dish is currently testing its 5G network using the Samsung Galaxy S22, and plans to continue using Samsung phones as a reference platform throughout the network deployment process.

“Samsung’s 5G solutions will play an integral role in our network expansion, giving us the flexibility to deploy our cloud-native network with software-based solutions that support advanced services and operational scalability,” said John Swieringa, president and chief operating officer, Dish Wireless. “We look forward to working with Samsung, whose industry leadership in vRAN and O-RAN innovation will help support our vision of delivering open, interoperable cloud-based 5G services to consumers and enterprises across the U.S.”

Samsung Networks Business will supply Dish Wireless with its 5G and RAN solutions, vRAN software and a variety of O-RAN compliant radio units, including Massive MIMO radios. 

Samsung’s vRAN can operate on any commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) server, while still delivering performance on par with traditional hardware-based equipment, the companies said. 

With its cloud-native architecture, Dish Wireless’ Open RAN deployment is based on open interfaces, allowing for multi-vendor interoperability and various deployment scenarios. The Samsung radios will also support all of Dish’s Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) spectrum bands (including n71, n29, n66, n70, n48 and n77).

BOSTON—The ripple effects of the Covid pandemic continues to impact the tablet market and produced some surprising results in Q1 2022, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics. 

It reports that while vendors wrestle with supply constraints and logistical issues also stemming from the pandemic, strong demand for tablets continues and Samsung, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple all saw impressive growth rates in Q1 2022. 

A better than expected start to 2022 may be short-lived however, as COVID restrictions in China, additional logistic and inflationary pressures, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all threaten to hold back supply going forward, Strategy Analytics cautioned via its Computing Devices (CCD) service and its new report “Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q1 2022.” 

“Tablet demand never really went away despite shipment declines for the last three quarters,” said Eric Smith, director – Connected Computing. “This has all been about vendors managing the twin challenges of persistent demand and supply constraints. Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft pulled off great quarters given all the macro-level challenges with fresh portfolios and strong distribution strategies. Apple’s recovery from the supply constraints of last quarter was equally impressive as they actually grew shipments sequentially. That’s unheard of in this business, but with more disruptive factors at play, we should come to expect the unexpected.”

Chirag Upadhyay, industry analyst added, “Android tablet market share is at a new low of 50%, but competition has heated up among Android vendors looking to grab market share from Huawei’s smaller device footprint as well as the fast-shrinking white box market. Lenovo has been growing for more than two years with this strategy but Xiaomi, Honor, realme, OPPO, and even Nokia have recently jumped into the tablet market, creating new dynamics in mainland China and a handful of markets in south Asia, southeast Asia, and Europe.”

Apple iPadOS shipments (sell-in) fell -6% year-on-year to 15.8 million units in Q1 2022, with worldwide market share climbing 1.7 percentage points to 39% as the vendor outpaced the market, the researchers reported. 

Compared to the holiday quarter when Apple was severely supply-constrained, shipments were actually 1% higher quarter-on-quarter

Samsung led the Android market with only a -1.2% year-on-year decline in Q1 2022 to 8.2 million units; market share increased by 1.8 percentage points to 20% during the same period

Amazon was right behind Samsung growth-wise with a -1.3% annual decline with 3.7 million shipments; market share grew 0.8 percentage points to 9%

Lenovo tablet shipments fell once again after two years of growth but the company retained its #4 ranking globally as competition has heated up from smaller Chinese vendors; Lenovo shipments declined -20% year-on-year to 3.0 million units in Q1 2022 and market share fell -0.9 percentage point year-on-year to 7%

For the second quarter in a row, Microsoft broke into the #5 ranking globally in Q1 2022 with 1.4 million tablets shipped at a 1% annual growth rate; it was the only vendor in the top five to show growth. Market share increased by 0.4 percentage points to 3%

BOSTON—Global smartphone shipments fell -11% YoY to 314 million units in Q1 2022 but Samsung topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 24% share, the highest first quarter performance over the past five years, reports Strategy Analytics. 

Apple was in second place with 18% share. Xiaomi, OPPO (including OnePlus) and vivo stayed in the top five list.

“Global smartphone shipments fell -11% YoY to 314 million units in Q1 2022,” said Linda Sui, senior director at Strategy Analytics. “This is the third consecutive quarter of annual decline by smartphone volumes. Factory constraints and component shortages continued to restrict smartphone supply in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, unfavorable economic conditions, geopolitical issues, as well as COVID-19 disruption (China rolling lockdown etc.) continued to weaken consumers’ demand on smartphones and other non-essential products.”

“We estimate Samsung shipped 75 million smartphones and topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 24% share in Q1 2022,” added Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics. “It is the vendor’s highest first quarter performance by market share since 2017. Demand was strong for the newly launched flagship Galaxy S22 series, especially the higher-priced S22 Ultra model. Meanwhile, Samsung continues to ramp up mass market A series in multiple markets. Apple shipped 57 million iPhones worldwide, up +1% YoY, for 18% global marketshare in Q1 2022. Apple had a good quarter, led by iPhone 13 series and the newly launched iPhone SE (2022), which starts to become a volume driver in lower segment. Apple also captured the highest first quarter market share since 2013, at the expense of leading Chinese brands who are hampered by the sluggish home market.”

For the full year the company is forecasting a slight decline of 1% to 2% in 2022, said Sui. “This year will be a tale of two halves,” she said. “Geopolitical issues, component shortages, price inflation, exchange rate volatility, and Covid disruption will continue to weigh on the smartphone market during the first half of 2022, before the situation eases in the second half due to Covid vaccines, interest rate rises by central banks, and less supply disruption at factories.”

LONDON—The BBC has announced that it is launching the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow UK channel on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s free, ad-supported streaming service.

The move illustrates some of the opportunities that connected TVs are offering international broadcasters in the U.S. 

The launch makes the show, which is now in its 44th season, available to viewers in the U.S., where the Antiques Roadshow UK channel joins over 200 premium channels already available on Samsung TV Plus in U.S. on the millions of Samsung Smart TVs, galaxy devices and on the web.

Samsung TV Plus also offers other BBC channels and other brands like “Tastemade,” “This Old House,” and “Tiny House Nation" in the U.S. 

Samsung is now accepting pre-orders for its 2022 TV models—including its flagship Neo QLED 8K Series, The Frame and the new Samsung OLED. 

The Neo QLED 8K series, announced at CES 2022, offers 8K resolution using Samsung’s Neural Quantum Processor 8K with AI. With Samsung’s 8K Eco system, users can pair Samsung’s new Galaxy S22 to playback the content captured in native 8K, 3D-quality resolution on any Samsung Neo QLED 8K screen.

The MiniLED in the new QLED series are 1/40th in size smaller than standard LEDs for greater density and dramatically improved contrast when combined with the Neural Quantum Processor 8K. Enhancing performance further is a new 14 bit processing, 144Hz refresh rate with up to 4K/144Hz (QN900B), and anti-reflective layer to reduce distractions.

Samsung’s Infinity One Design features a razor-thin panel with depth ranging from 16.7mm (QN900B) to 18.7mm (QN850B, QN800B) finished off with stainless-steel. For sound, the QN900B features a 90W 6.2.4-channel audio. 

The 2022 Samsung Neo QLED line features new models available in 65”, 75” and 85” screen sizes. The QN900B and QN800B are available for pre-order March 21st, and the QN95B will be available for pre-order, May 23.

Also new is the S95B, Samsung’s OLED model, which uses Samsung’s Neural Quantum Processor 4K and the intelligent experiences of the Tizen platform with the incredible sound experiences of Samsung Object Tracking Sound and Q-Symphony- with Dolby Atmos. 

The S95 also features an OLED brightness booster and perceptional color mapping to deliver brighter, more accurate highlights and realistic, lifelike colors.

The S95B is available for pre-order today in 55” and 65” sizes.

SEATTLE—The local news streaming service NewsON has launched its app on Samsung smart TVs. The NewsON app for the TVs offers live, on-demand local newscasts and news clips from more than a dozen local television station groups, providing viewers instant access to local news content from nearly 200 local TV stations in over 100 U.S. markets.

“We are excited to introduce NewsON to a new audience across millions of Samsung Smart TVs in the U.S.,” said Ron Stitt, general manager of NewsON. “As a leading source of trusted local news content on OTT platforms, we are looking forward to expanding this free service to viewers on Samsung’s Smart TVs.”

Samsung TV Plus free ad supported video service offers instant access to 200 channels. It is pre-installed on all 2016-2021 Samsung Smart TVs, and available for download on select Samsung Galaxy devices. 

NewsON recently announced the completion of the relaunch and redesign of its product offering across supported platforms including Roku player, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and iOS and Android app versions, to include an enhanced user experience with streamlined navigation to live and on demand newscasts. 

NewsON has also announced the addition of a web-based product providing consumers another way to connect with local news at NewsON.us.

DALLAS—Parks Associates has released consumer research showing that in Q3 2021, 27% of US broadband subscribers reported that smart TV’s using the Samsung Tizen operating system were their primary device for consuming video content. 

The data highlighted the fact that more “changes are coming for the video entertainment market in 2022," said Eric Sorensen, senior contributing analyst, Parks Associates. "The smart TV will cement its status as the default streaming platform in the households. We will see many more content partnerships and service acquisitions among providers and manufacturers. Content creators will leverage their ability to reach audiences directly, while service and content providers will adapt their business models to anticipate higher levels of churn than in previous years."

Acquisitions and consolidations are becoming key options for streaming firms to compete in the face of limited material and the constant demand for more new content, Parks also reported.  

It’s OTT Video Tracker found that the average churn rate for SVODs increased to 45% in 2021, a 5.5 percentage point jump from 2020. Consumers hold on to the services they use the most and jump among the others, paying for a program or season and then canceling when they are finished, Parks reported. The number of subscriptions may rise and fall over time, indicating that churn rates will continue to be elevated in 2022.

Parks Associates also reported that streaming media providers will face increasing competition from digital and social content producers in 2022. Popular online content creators are circumventing established distribution models and building their streaming applications from the ground up. For instance, KevOnStage Studios, created by comedian and multi-viral content producer Kevin Fredericks, whose stage name is KevOnStage, is very successful with his YouTube channel.

"Streaming apps provide new revenue opportunities, especially with the chance to retain content ownership rights," Sorensen said. "Digital content creators can monetize content and build audiences collected from social networking and video sharing platforms to their streaming applications and websites."

The OTT Video Market Tracker, an annual service from Parks Associates, features monthly updates on trends and market activities in the OTT video space, including comprehensive tracking of existing and emerging players and quarterly subscriber estimates.