"LG Electronics, breakthrough in the TV market is the 'platform business'... accelerating expansion of the webOS ecosystem"

[Financial News] As global demand slows and Chinese low-priced competition intensifies, putting structural pressure on the television (TV) business, LG Electronics' platform business based on webOS is rapidly emerging as a new growth pillar. With advertising- and content-based revenue increasing quickly, it is increasingly taking on the role of a cash cow that can replace the traditional hardware-centered revenue structure.
According to industry sources on the 16th, the compound annual revenue growth rate of LG Electronics' webOS business exceeds 60%, with sales surpassing 1 trillion won as of the end of 2024. Its operating margin remains in the double digits, leading to the assessment that profitability is higher than that of the existing hardware business.
In particular, over the past three years LG Electronics has increased the number of devices equipped with webOS by more than 70 million, building a platform ecosystem that has reached a cumulative 260 million devices as of last year. This was made possible by its aggressive push to expand the ecosystem, supplying webOS not only for its own smart TV lineup but also for more than 10 million TVs from external partner companies.
LG Electronics is expanding the webOS ecosystem because it can serve as a new source of revenue in a stagnant TV market. webOS is evolving beyond a simple operating system into an integrated platform that encompasses △ Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) channels △ Over-the-top media service (OTT) distribution △ advertising and data businesses. Compared with simply selling hardware, 
An industry insider said, "The webOS business is highly profitable and continues to grow every year," adding, "Even as TV sales decline, the platform business is serving as a stable source of cash generation."
Against this backdrop, LG Electronics aims by 2030 to more than double the current number of devices running webOS and to extend webOS to smart monitors, digital signage and mobility devices, thereby aggressively increasing content and advertising revenue.
The platform strategy is one of the two main pillars of LG Electronics' survival strategy amid a flood of low-priced Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV offerings from Chinese manufacturers. The company is pursuing a dual-track approach that combines a premium TV strategy centered on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology with a webOS-based platform revenue model.
Market prospects are also bright, with the FAST market entering a high-growth phase, particularly in North America and Europe. Market research firm Grand View Research, Inc. forecasts that the global FAST market will grow at a compound annual rate of 16.9% through 2033. North America is the largest market, accounting for 31% of the total, while major European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France are also expected to post double-digit growth.
moving@fnnews.com Lee Dong-hyuk Reporter