LG is tossing in an XBoom Go PL5 Bluetooth speaker for customers who buy a 2020 LG OLED or NanoCell TV, said the company Monday. The “surround-ready” speaker, with Meridian sound, can be used to add rear-channel sound to a TV, it said. The offer runs through Aug. 2 at LG.com and authorized dealers.
Best Buy customers who buy qualifying hardware products can get a three-month free trial of the Tidal Premium or HiFi tiers and discounted membership fees when their trials expire, said the streaming service Monday. Memberships will be paid for and managed through Best Buy, which has exclusivity on the promotional offers, said Tidal.
Roku launched a shopper data program designed to persuade consumer packaged goods advertisers to divert more of their ad spend to streaming. Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) plans to join the program as the launch partner to build targeting and attribution tools for streaming TV, Roku said. Marketers will use sales information from the program to activate advertising across hundreds of ad-supported channels on the Roku platform and to tie ad exposure directly to in-store and online sales. KPM provides data from 60 million households across nearly 2,800 Kroger stores. Roku believes all TV ads will be “targeted and measurable,” said Alison Levin, vice president-ad sales and strategy.
LG announced a marketing partnership with Evil Geniuses centered on its UltraGear gaming monitors. UltraGear monitors will be used in competitive practice and streaming rooms at the EG training facilities in Seattle and Los Angeles and featured in the team’s digital content, said the company. The monitors have a 1-millisecond display with QHD Nano in-plane switching technology said to provide lifelike images across a wide viewing angle.
PSB Speakers cut the price of its CS1000 and CS500 Universal In-Outdoor speakers by 25%, in a promotion that runs through July 16, it said Thursday. The deal is good for speakers bought at PSBspeakers.com or at a participating retailer, said the company.
Sonos, coming off a bookshelf speakers and entry sound bar sale that ended last week, is continuing to cut prices into May, lopping $150 off the Sub subwoofer and Playbar sound bar through May 5, “or while supplies last,” said the website Monday. The company had been discounting the One, One SL and Beam speakers by $50 through Thursday. It’s also selling sale-priced bundles, combining the Beam sound bar and Sub to create a “3.1 Entertainment Set” at $150 off to $948. A $1,098 bundle, with the Playbar and Sub, is $300 off. Sonos announced (see 2001220057) in an unpopular January blog post that it will sunset several “legacy” products -- Zone Players, the Connect and Connect:Amp, the first-generation Play:5, the CR200 controller, and the Bridge -- in May, saying those products would no longer get software updates. After a social media firestorm, CEO Patrick Spence walked plans back a bit several days later (see 2001240015) saying the company will keep legacy gear updated with bug fixes and security patches “for as long as possible.”
Digital advertisers should stop “using keyword blocking practices” that jeopardize the journalism industry, the News Media Alliance and Digital Content Next said Friday. Some advertisers have stopped spending ad money because of COVID-19, but others are using blockers to prevent “ads from appearing on COVID-19-related content,” the groups said. Digital Content Next President-CEO Jason Kint urged Google and Oracle to “dedicate urgent resources towards solutions here, including exempting or encouraging trusted news organizations as a default.” The Association of National Advertisers didn’t comment.
Dish Network Hopper customers who complete a perfect bracket for the NCAA basketball championship can qualify for a $10 million grand prize, said the pay-TV operator Monday. Contestants must fill out their brackets March 15-19 on the BracketView app to be eligible, said Dish. The $10 million will be paid out over 10 years and evenly divided among the winners should more than one contestant fill out a perfect bracket, it said. The March Madness tournament opens March 17 and concludes April 6 with the championship game in Atlanta.
Amazon’s Woot! daily deals site is offering exclusives through Friday to Prime members during its Prime Member Appreciation Week. It gave brands Apple, Dyson, Amazon Devices and Craftsman top billing in a Monday notice and encouraged non-Prime members to sign up for a free 30-day trial. TV deals Monday largely comprised refurbished, Element, Samsung and Sony TVs.
Sam’s Club is offering a $300 gift card for purchase of select Apple and Samsung smartphones through March 22, or while inventories last. Customers who buy and activate the phones on the AT&T, Sprint or Verizon networks are eligible for a gift card when they buy an iPhone X, XS or XS Max, or the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, S10, S10E, S9 Plus, S9 or Note 9, said the retailer. The offer is also available online for upgrades with AT&T, it said.