Since it first introduced a refreshed Google TV interface for Chromecast streaming hardware in 2020, the company has been working to revolutionize its networkingtelevisionand the experience of using the companion app.
For example, the “Movies & TV” section on Google Play has been moved directly to the “Google TV” app, and it is pointed out that the latter will provide a one-stop experience for buying, renting, and watching movies and TV shows on mobile devices.
It’s worth mentioning that while the company didn’t share any more details on adding screencasting support to the Google TV app, the feature should be available in the near future. It can be seen from an official photo that at least NBC’s Peacock has been confirmed to provide support for the first time.
As part of the announcement, Google went on to share some updates related to the Android TV ecosystem. It can be seen that the number of monthly active devices has reached 110 million (including Google TV), which is higher than the 80 million monthly active data disclosed in the same period last year, and the Android TV platform now provides more than 10,000 application resources.
Of course, we can’t equate the Android TV system with competitors such as Roku or Amazon Fire TV, after all it is not only available for Google’s first-party devices (such as Chromecast streaming hardware), but also licenses to partners (including OEM TV manufacturers) / pay-TV operators).
Google says it currently has 300+ partners using the platform, including 7 of the top 10 OEMs. It’s just 110 million monthly active device data, which is not on the same day as the indicators disclosed by Roku/Amazon.
It should be pointed out that the data of the Android TV system is actually calculated by counting the number of devices actively used in a month – this means that users with multiple devices may be double-counted, and the same device used by multiple people may be double-counted. A household device may only be counted once.
As for Roku and Amazon, MAU is defined on an “account” basis — meaning that even if the account is streaming on multiple different devices at the same time, it will only count as the same MAU. The data would be even brighter if it was as opportunistic as Google did.
In December 2020, Amazon disclosed that Fire TV’s monthly usage data has exceeded 50 million. And to this day, the official website is still citing this figure. In January, it said it had sold 150+ million Fire TV devices, meaning it didn’t have to fear Google’s challenge.
Meanwhile, Roku has 60.1 million monthly active accounts (not active devices) as of 2021. By the first quarter of 2022, the new data was 61.3 million.
【Replenish】
Finally, Google highlighted several developer features on Android 13 related to Android TV work, complemented by companion tools focused on performance and quality, accessibility, and multitasking.
● AudioManager: Allows applications to predict audio routing and know exactly what playback modes are available.
● MediaSession: Integrate with applications so that Android TV reacts to changes in HDMI state, saving energy and pausing the output of signal content.
● InputDevice API: Add support for different keyboard input device layouts (such as QWERTY / AZERTY, etc.), game developers can also benefit from this.
● Global Accessibility Preferences: Allows users to enable audio descriptions across apps.
● Picture-in-Picture (PIP) API: Supports Picture-in-Picture extended mode on TV to display video/dock mode from group call, thus avoiding overlaying content on other apps.
● Keep-clear API: Prevents overlays from hiding important content in full-screen apps.
Of these, the update to the PIP feature is the most interesting, as it introduces more co-viewing capabilities into the Android TV ecosystem. previous competitorappleSharePlay has been introduced to allow a FaceTime “co-watching” experience across platforms, including Apple TV.
