How To Block Ads On Smart TVs (Easy Guide)

Some ads shown on your smart TV may not be appropriate for some viewers, especially children.

Because Smart TVs are family-oriented devices, it is essential to keep it kid-friendly and filter content that you have no control of, including advertisements.

Here are some of the things you need to know about blocking ads on your smart TV.

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How Do you Block Ads on a Smart TV?

The methods differ from each platform and app:

YouTube Premium:

If you are more of a YouTube-oriented smart TV user, the best way to block ads would be to sign up for YouTube Premium.

YouTube Premium is a paid service that gives an ad-free experience when watching on the platform.

The nice thing about YouTube Premium is that it also has plans that allow different users.

You don’t need to mess with any settings, and your subscription covers the ad revenue of content creators.

YouTube Premium starts 11.99 dollars a month, and an extra six (6) dollars a month lets you add up to five (5) family members to your plan.

Here you can see the demographics of TV advertising audience.

Ad Blockers:

You can also opt to install adblockers on your smart TV.

Some apps let you filter the ads that appear on your smart TV.

But, these adblockers can be risky, as they may contain malware or software that have malicious codes that can destroy the system of your smart TV.

You can opt for this solution if you are confident with the adblocker you choose.

Blocking Ads Using your Internet Router:

This method will help you blacklist particular ad URLs so that they won’t appear on your TV.

You don’t need to do this on your smart TV – you can use your laptop or desktop computer to access the router directly.

It is easier to do this on an actual computer since you have a physical keyboard and pointing device to navigate. It’s a bit technical so we’ve also included a separate article on this here.

What You Need to Do:

Access the configuration settings of your router through the web browser.

The URL for the configuration of your router depends on the manufacturer. The most common is 192.168.1.1.

The username and password will depend on the manufacturer and service provider.

While these are found under or on the manual of the router, you may have to call them for credentials, if not available.

Once you log into the control panel of your router, look for the Firewall or the corresponding setting and then go to the Content Filter settings.

From here, type the corresponding URLs that you want to block.

Since the goal is to block ads from appearing, you will need to check the ad URLs of your smart TV and paste it into the content filter.

How to Block Ads on SAMSUNG Smart TVs:

If you are using a Samsung smart TV, you can block ads by using the router method above.

Once you access the control panel, look for the content filter, and block the following URLs:

config.samsungads.com
gpm.samsungqbe.com
log-config.samsungacr.com
samsung.com
samsungacr.com
samsungads.com
samsungotn.net
www.samsung.net/ads
ads.samsung.com

Blocking these URLs will allow you to filter ads from your Samsung TV.

How to Block Ads on LG Smart TVs

Blocking ads on your LG smart TV also follows the same for Samsung.

In the content filter of your router, put the following URLs for blocking:

ngfts.lge.com
us.ad.lgsmartad.com
lgad.cjpowercast.com
edgesuite.net
us.info.lgsmartad.com

These will filter ads that you see in the My Content tab of your TV.

How to Block Ads on VIZIO Smart TVs

If you own a Vizio smart TV, you need to turn off Smart Interactivity.

Here is what you need to do:

Press the Menu button on your remote control and look for “Settings”.

Under Settings, go to “Smart Interactivity” and press the right arrow to set it to “Off”.

You can also do this through the “Vizio Plus TV” feature, by pressing the “Menu” or accessing the “HDTV Settings” app.

Go to “System” and look for “Reset and Admin”. Choose “Smart Interactivity” and press the right arrow. Set to “Off”.

How to Block Ads on SONY Smart TVs

Sony uses a different method to block ads.

First, go to your “Settings” and look for the “Android TV Core Services”.

Rollback all updates. If a warning shows that you are rolling back to the initial version, skip it.

Now go to the “Home” screen and press the “-” sign on the left side to remove the sponsored channel.

Now go to “Apps” in the settings and look for “Android TV Core” services. Force stop and then disable it.

Or, since Sony uses Android, you can opt to install BlockAda App, but this requires you to set your TV to allows the installation of third-party apps.

Will All Ads be Removed from your Smart TV?

There will still be some ads that may come through.

Take the case of YouTube.

While you may have blacklisted ads through the router, this does not cover YouTube. You may need a separate ad blocker plugin, which can be unstable.

If you want to block ads on YouTube, consider getting a Premium account for an ad-free experience.

Do These Ad-Blocking Techniques Work on Free or Cable TV?

Ad blockers only work for Internet-linked services on your smart TV.

If you want to skip ads on your TV, you may want to consider getting TiVo.

How to Set up Parental Control on Smart TVs:

Samsung:

If you own a Samsung smart TV, this is what you need to do.

Go to “Settings” and look for Broadcasting.
Click on “Program Rating Lock Settings”, and input your PIN code (the default is 0000).
Activate “Program Rating Lock”, and select “TV Rating” or “Move Rating”.

Any show or film with this rating or higher will need a PIN code to proceed.