The Rise of Android TV — Time To Get Smart?
The death of the classic Pay TV offering has been a topic for the last few years and now more than ever it seems that the threat of its existence is becoming a reality. Indeed, this week, Michelle Clancy of Rapid TV News observed that Pay-TV has lost over 1 MN subs for the first time ever in Q3. Interestingly, however, TV as a device appears unaffected by the evident disruption in the Pay-TV ecosystem. TVs seem to be back in their prime as they are becoming smarter and more intuitive giving the user endless possibilities and choices.
One of the most popular Smart TV operating systems in the Nordic region is offered by Samsung, namely, Tizen.
In contrast to the popularity of Tizen in Scandinavia, IHS reports that Android TV is dominating the global market share in 2018 with 40% (Compared to Samsung Tizen with 23%). Following the massive disaster of Google TV, Android TV has gone a long way since its first introduction in 2014. Unlike its predecessor that was commercially unsuccessful, Android TV seems to have it all and keeps adding features constantly, a major point of interest in the streaming media community.
Introduced on a Nexus Player in October 2014 as a digital media player device it has grown tremendously and included on more and more devices ever since. Currently, it is available on several digital media players including Nvidia Shield and Razer Forge TV. Furthermore, it is integrated in smart TVs such as Sony, Sharp, Phillips, and several set-top boxes now include it as standard. Yet, thus far, there is only a portion of the devices that support the full Android TV version. Fire Stick is also an interesting a use case as it supports both Android development and web app development.
What is so great about this platform that leads it to outperform competitors such as Roku, Amazon, and Apple? If I were to pinpoint the best feature, I would pick Google Cast, the Chromecast built-in. It is integrated into all Android TV devices making it easier than ever to queue and cast media from supported apps. With over 55 million Chromecasts and Chromecast built-in devices being sold as of 2017, casting as a feature is slowly but surely overtaking the industry.
Another great feature worth mentioning and indeed one that will play a bigger and more important role in the future is the support for Google Assistant — a virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence. It is basically the future we have been waiting for, unfolding right in front of our eyes. The feature was first introduced in 2016 as part of the Google Home presentation. Users interact with the assistant via vocal recognition but keyboard input is also supported, (while not as fascinating as simply talking with your television.) The feature lets you search for content, schedule recordings, events, and alarms, adjust settings and display various information based on your Google accounts. It is exciting, new and very easily accessible.
One of the key attributes of the Smart TV is the diverse functionality on offer. For example; Android TV can be used as a gaming platform with access to the Google Play Store where thousands of apps and games are a click away from the user. Furthermore, the platform intuitively arranges content based on the user’s preferences and viewing patterns. It has suggestions and recommendations tailored according to individual taste. What a time to be a viewer — There is no wonder it is taking the market by a storm!
What do you think? Do you like developing on and/or using Android TV or perhaps you are a fan of Tizen? Maybe you are totally done with Smart TVs and prefer streaming on a mobile device instead? Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear from you.
//Boryana Yaneva
