Each October, my smart TV's home screen traumatizes my children with advertisements for whichever big horror movie is coming out for Halloween. That would be bad enough, but it isn't just scary movies that are advertising once a year: Smart TV companies have injected ads into their platforms to play year-round, forcing you to dodge these promotions whenever you want to watch a show or movie.
In researching how to stop these horror ads from popping up on my TV, I found one solution that seems to work well: blocking the domains from which the TV obtains the ads. While it is a little involved and doesn't apply to all brands (Vizio is one of the notable exceptions), it does appear to work for most Samsung, LG, and Roku smart TVs. If you have one of these TVs, and you're sick of these ads, too, give this a shot:
To change any of your router's settings, you'll need to log into it using your web browser. Start by typing your router's IP address into your browser's address bar to access it. That might sound daunting, but it probably isn't. Nowadays, most routers use the same IP address: 192.168.1.1. Other commonly used IP addresses are:
https://192.168.0.1
https://192.168.0.254
https://192.168.1.254
If you see a login screen after you hit return, you've used the correct IP address. If not, follow our instructions here for locating your router's IP address on both Mac and Windows.
Once you've entered the correct IP address, it's time to log into your router. It's okay if you don't remember creating a username and password for your router—you probably never did. You can likely log into it using the default name and password. Just look for your router on this list here. If you have any more questions about logging into your router, check out our article on the topic.
Your router's settings page is where web addresses to be blocked and filtered are listed, but different router manufacturers use various names to describe it. You're most likely to find it under the name "Security," "Firewall," or "Parental Controls."
You should now be on the screen where you list the domains you want to block.
If you have a Samsung TV, list these domains:
samsungads.com
events.samsungads.com
config.samsungads.com
static.doubleclick.net
tvx.adgrx.com
samsungotn.net
samsungrm.net
samsung.net/ads
gpm.samsungqbe.com
log-config.samsungacr.com
samsungacr.com
samsungcloudsolution.com
samsungcloudsolution.net
If you have a LG TV, list these domains:
ngfts.lge.com
us.ad.lgsmartad.com
us.info.lgsmartad.com
lgad.cjpowercast.com
edgesuite.net
ad.lgappstv.com
smartclip.com
smartclip.net
smartshare.lgtvsdp.com
us.ibs.lgappstv.com
us.lgtvsdp.com
us.rdx2.lgtvsdp.com
yumenetworks.com
aic-ngfts.lge.com
If you have a Roku smart TV, list these domains:
cooper.logs.roku.com
track.sr.roku.com
p.ads.roku.com
bif.sr.roku.com
traces.sr.roku.com
cloudservices.roku.com
scribe.logs.roku.com
amarillo.sb.roku.com
If your attempts at logging into your router aren't going well, that's okay. Instead, try creating a free account at OpenDNS, a cloud-based internet service that offers services from phishing protection to domain blocking. After setting up your account, you can block the domains on the Web Content Filtering page.
With any luck, your children will no longer need to be subjected to horror movie ads while trying to watch Bluey.
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