LG Ad Solutions on Thursday announced it has hired former Vizio executive Dave Rudnick as the CTV platform’s new SVP of Engineering, effective immediately.
Rudnick will be based in Denver and report directly to LG Ad Solutions CEO Michael Hudes, who joined the company as chief executive in September.
Rudnick previously worked at LG smart TV competitor Vizio, most recently serving as SVP of Product Engineering at Vizio Ads where he led the development of their CTV platform until March 2022. LG in the announcement touted Rudnick’s expertise in CTV, advertising, eCommerce and digital media.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dave Rudnick on board during this exciting phase of our company’s growth,” said Hudes in a statement. “Dave’s exceptional track record and his passion for innovation align perfectly with our values. He will be a tremendous asset to both our engineering group and the company’s leadership.”
In announcing the appointment LG highlighted Rudnick’s experience in advanced advertising, with prior work alongside major holding companies and their agencies to help boost their approach to planning, purchasing, and measuring digital media. The company also said the new hire elevates its commitment to innovation in CTV and digital advertising.
Prior to Vizio, Rudnick was co-founder and CTO of Conneckt, an in-content advertising and data science company and earlier was CTO at ad monetization technology company Delivery Agent.
In announcing the move, Rudnick cited “the spirit of innovation and the bold vision for the future of connected television at LG Ad Solutions” as key factors in his decision to make the move.
“I’m incredibly excited to join the team at LG Ad Solutions at such a dynamic time in the industry,” Rudnick said in a statement. “I'm eager to contribute to the engineering excellence here and to collaborate with the amazing talent across the company. Together, we’re set to make significant strides in technology and create solutions that truly resonate with our customers and the market.”
Like other smart TV makers, LG is working to generate revenue not only from the sale of its hardware but also through advertising on its CTV platform including the built-in free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service LG Channels. Last year on the advertising front LG struck a deal with Nielsen to provide its glass-level ACR (automatic content recognition) data for the ratings giant’s national TV measurement service for both linear and CTV. It gives advertisers activating campaigns on LG smart TVs the ability to get streaming measurement and co-viewing metrics from LG Ad Solutions via Nielsen One starting this month. And in September LG marked a strategic product partnership with purchase insights company Affinity for a closed-loop CTV ad targeting and measurement product named LoopIQ.
Rudnick joins the company as LG faces increased competition, both for hardware and advertising dollars, as the TVOS wars have heated up in the past year. That includes Roku-branded smart TVs – which just debuted a new premium lineup this week, recent plans by Vizio to license its TVOS to third-party OEMs, and streaming devices and TVs from Comcast and Charter’s Xumo joint venture, among others.
On Thursday, LG Electronics also disclosed expanding the footprint of its TVOS software, announcing it’s offering the latest upgrade of the webOS smart TV platform to owners of older LG TVs, including every model in its 2022 OLED TV lineup. The aim is to update their TV viewing experiencing, including a personalized home screen that features recommendations and provides opportunities for monetization. The company’s webOS powers more than 200 million LG smart TVs worldwide and said more TVs adopting the latest upgrade means “content providers and service developers will have more opportunities to spread new content, services and features to a wider audience.”
And the company plans to lean further into its operating system as an entertainment hub.
“LG is poised to invest heavily in its webOS business to secure a vast library of content and services so that it can cater to the diverse lifestyles and preferences of consumers, strengthening its competitive edge in content selection and convenience,” LG said in the announcement.